A distraught George Russell skipped his media duties after the Mexico City Grand Prix, but not before congratulating Kimi Antonelli on becoming world champion. The Italian, 20, became the youngest title winner in Formula One history after finishing third in Sunday's race, which was won by Red Bull's Max Verstappen. His Mercedes team-mate entered the season as the dominant title favourite, but he's won just three races this season and has played second fiddle to Antonelli's consistent excellence this year. Russell, 28, finished sixth in Mexico City after being slapped with a 10-second penalty, with the Silver Arrows star adjudged to have caused a collision with Red Bull ace Isack Hadjar.

Noticeably downcast over his finishing position, Russell made sure to embrace Antonelli on his title win before being allowed to skip his media duties by Mercedes. The team's initial announcement on Russell's absence came without an explanation.

"And maybe today the race was a little bit a picture of his season. This was a race for him to win. We had the pace in the car. And we let him down on the first straight. The energy delivery is not what we thought it should be. And so I'm very much with him at the moment. I've been in situations where it's very, very difficult to cope.

Antonelli may have made history over the weekend, but the Italian was critical over his own performance. He said: "I just feel like I didn't do a good enough job out there and didn't have the most confidence. It hasn't been easy this weekend, to be fair, and especially to keep my emotions flat.