GEORGE RUSSELL has questioned whether his Mercedes woes are the result of bad luck – or something worse.

The Englishman, 28, has been knocked back time and again this season.

And his agonising setbacks came to a head in Mexico last weekend, where he watched 20-year-old team-mate Kimi Antonelli romp to his first world title.

Russell had qualified on the front row for that race, but tumbled down the pack due to a software glitch on the opening lap.

Gearing up for the Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend, Russell said: “To have basically the whole race taken away from me because of a software glitch was incredibly tough to deal with when we’ve just had so many of these little issues in the whole season.

“It’s been atrocious luck. We need to question, is it luck? Because it’s happened too often. We need to question, is there something we’re overlooking? Because we can have bad luck once, twice, three times, four times – but it’s been too many times.”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff revealed he found Russell “distraught” after finishing sixth in Mexico, three places behind title winner Antonelli.

Russell then left the track and snubbed his media duties – landing Mercedes a £4,170 fine – just as Antonelli’s title celebrations were ramping up.

Eight-time Grand Prix winner Russell has long been tipped as a future F1 world champion but has never finished higher than fourth in the Drivers’ Championship at Mercedes, with Antonelli winning in just his second season in the sport.

Wolff explained: “I have known George for such a long time. So I saw him and thought, for a racing driver, this is a catastrophic moment.

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“Him not doing the media work, or leaving the track, is absolutely understandable. Him staying would have actually surprised me.”

After a few days of letting the dust settle, Russell has now explained why he swerved the celebrations in Mexico.

He said: “The championship was inevitably going to Kimi.

“I was just very disappointed with what happened for me at the start of the race.

“I felt excited for the race. I was in a good position to fight for the lead at Turn 1, and then obviously it just all unravelled with another issue outside of our control.

“In racing, you always pick yourself back up, and for me, I felt the best way to pick myself back up was getting out of there, and it’s as simple as that, really.

“I was just very upset with missing out on the chance of a good result because, as I said, the championship for me, it was already over.

“But I just couldn’t believe how things had panned out again.”