Russell: Austin tempo was terrible

Mercedes driver George Russell described his performance at the United States Grand Prix as "terrible". Russell finished eighth, 54 seconds behind his teammate Kimi Antonelli, over the 56-lap race. This result kept Russell mathematically in the championship fight.

Russell held sixth place in the first stint. However, he received a five-second penalty for an incident with Oscar Piastri on the first lap. It was judged that he had gained an advantage by running off the track. The penalty was applied during his pit stop, which cost Russell two or three positions.

Russell stayed behind Piastri over the final 26 laps but could not get past the Australian. The driver said he did not yet understand what the problem was. "I need to try to understand why. Being this far back is strange. I hope there are answers somewhere, but I don't have them right now," he said.

Antonelli took his ninth win of the season. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff called it the best race of Antonelli's career so far. The win was Mercedes' first since the aerodynamic update introduced in Malaysia in early October. The team explained that the updates had narrowed the car's ideal setup window.