Russell says fight is with Ferrari, Red Bull as Mexico strategy sours

The Mercedes has disimissed claims that his race engineer Marcus Dudley was responsible for what Russell deemed to be a slow reaction from the German squad's pitwall to the circumstances of the race.

After both he and teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli emerged from the pits on lap 25 they were hot on Oliver Bearman's Haas' tail, with the Italian rookie leading the Mercedes charge.

After Antonelli failed to mount an attack for position on the British rookie, Russell was vocal about his desire to have a go at Bearman himself, a decision which was held off by the Mercedes pitwall.

Though the German team did eventually react triggering an order swap between Russell and Antonelli, the British driver's tyres had already lost the performance necessary to launch the attack on Bearman, key to Mercedes' bid to outscore Ferrari and maintain P2 in the Constructors' Standings.

Speaking after the race, when questioned on Dudley's potential responsibility regarding the decision he said with regard to Mercedes' lack of action: "Obviously it was quite frustrating.

Russell then insisted that the championship fight wasn't being waged between him and teammate Antonelli, emphasising that the target should have been their rivals in the Constructors', Ferrari and Red Bull Racing.

"Ultimately I'm not battling Kimi in a championship or a fight, we're battling Ferrari and Red Bull for the championship and ultimately we finished P6 and P7 today. [It] could have worked out different," he concluded.

Russell was of the opinion that had penalties been dished out to three corner cutting drivers - among which he named Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, with the third one understood to be Antonelli - at the start of the race he would have been able to finish P3 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez given the advantage that track position has historically yielded throughout the 2025 Formula One season.

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