Russell crashes out of FP2 at Mexico GP, causes red flag

George Russell endured a hefty crash in Formula 1’s second practice session at the Mexican Grand Prix to introduce a lengthy red flag.

The Briton took too much kerb at Turn 9 and it visibly upset his Mercedes’ handling as the rear of the car began to bounce, pitching Russell into the Tecpro barrier sideways.

Russell was able to get out of the car unaided – though clutching his midriff – and the nature of the impact necessitated the appearance of the medical car, which took him to the circuit’s medical centre for checks.

Mercedes has since announced that the English driver has been released from the medical centre and made his way back to the hospitality, clarifying: “He’s physically okay but it was a significant impact.”

This led to a 24-minute break in proceedings to repair the Tecpro barriers damaged in the Russell impact on the exit of Turn 9, before the session was able to get going again. 

Russell’s Mercedes sustained heavy damage to the right-hand side of the car, particularly to the sidepod and rear wing, and thus will require lengthy repairs overnight.

It was the second heavy impact sustained by Russell in consecutive weeks after he spun out at Turn 19 in qualifying for the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas.

FP2 had been extended to 90 minutes for the purposes of a Pirelli tyre test; the control tyre supplier set out the run plans for all teams – with 30 minutes of free running granted to the drivers who missed FP1 after giving up their seats to young drivers.

The additional Pirelli tyres supplied are all unmarked; each driver was given an additional two sets of tyres, one of a 2024 compound used during the weekend, and another of a 2025 construction to provide back-to-back data without visually revealing the softness of the compounds themselves. One of these includes a C6 compound at an even softer grade.