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Article on George Russell: Contrast in Mexico. Russell suffered another energy-deployment problem, finished sixth and left without completing his media duties. He congratulated Antonelli first before slipping out of the circuit left to reflect on a season that had promised so much more. Once the disappointment settles, Russell faces a bigger question: how does he stop this lost opportunity defining what comes next? Mercedes owe him answers, not sympathy Toto Wolff did not hide from Mercedes’ responsibility. “This was a race for him to win,” he said. “We had the pace in the car. And we let him down on the first straight.” But the powerful admission is also only useful if Mercedes act on it. Russell’s campaign has been punctured by retirements in Canada, Belgium and Singapore, alongside technical problems in Hungary, Malaysia and elsewhere. A championship challenge needs momentum and all too often, Russell has been left trying to rebuild his. The immediate priority is not a motivational speech. It is a proper technical reckoning. Why have the failures kept coming? Which problems share a cause? What must change to prevent another campaign being compromised? Russell needs confidence that when he puts himself in a position to win, the machinery and execution will hold up. Wolff’s understanding is welcome. Reliability would be better. Bad luck explains plenty. It cannot explain everything. There is a trap here, however. Russell can reasonably argue that the championship standings do not capture the full story of his season. That does not prove he would have beaten Antonelli without the setbacks. Those are different arguments, and keeping them separate will be essential. Mexico itself was not entirely outside Russell’s control: he also received a ten-second penalty for his collision with Isack Hadjar. Mercedes must own their failures, but Russell still needs to examine the moments when his own execution could have been better. Otherwise, understandable frustration risks becoming an explanation for everything. The strongest response is not to insist that Antonelli won the championship Russell should have had. It is to make the next contest impossible to dismiss.