2025 United States Grand Prix - Sunday

Challenging Sunday in Austin

• George Russell finished sixth with Kimi Antonelli P13 in Sunday’s United States Grand Prix.
• George lined up P4 but was pinched on the inside of turn one, losing positions to the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton and the McLaren of Oscar Piastri.
• The difficulty, for the whole field, in getting close to the car ahead whilst also keeping tyre surface temperatures under control, limited the ability to regain those positions.
• Despite a three-lap tyre offset after switching from the Medium to the Soft compound, he couldn’t trouble Piastri before the chequered flag came.
• Kimi meanwhile, also running the Medium-Soft one-stop, held his starting position of P7 in the opening laps.
• He was unfortunate to be turned around by the Williams of Carlos Sainz at turn 15 in the early stages and could only rejoin at the back of the field.
• He fought back from there but his progressed was halted at P13 and he therefore finished outside of the points.
• The battle for second in the Constructors’ Championship has closed up once again with Ferrari now seven points behind in P3.
• The team now heads south to Mexico for next week’s Mexico City Grand Prix.

George Russell

I thought before the race that it was likely wherever we exited turn one would be the place we finished. That was due to the expected level of degradation and similar pace of the front-running cars. That is exactly how it played out and, sadly for us, we lost positions at that first corner. I made a good start but got boxed in behind Lando (Norris), and Lewis (Hamilton) and Oscar (Piastri) were able to overtake me around the outside. From there, it was a lonely race to P6.

We turn our attentions straight to Mexico now. It is a very different circuit to here in Austin and the altitude creates its own level of challenge. Hopefully we can have a better race there than we did today and fight back in the fight for second in the Constructors’ Championship.

Kimi Antonelli

That was a frustrating race from our side. I felt good in the car early on, as I have done all weekend, and was looking forward to trying to gain some positions from P7. Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be. I tried to leave some space for Carlos (Sainz) at turn 15 as I saw him coming. I managed to do so but we still made contact and that put an end to any realistic chance of scoring good points today.

It was a disappointing day, but we move forward. We head straight to Mexico now, and we have a chance to bounce back straight away. I’m hopeful we can do so as the Constructors’ Championship is close, and every point is going to matter.

Toto Wolff, CEO & Team Principal

Not every race can be a classic and that was the case today. There were small pace differences between the top cars today and that, along with the challenge of managing surface tyre temperatures when following closely, made overtaking almost impossible. Unfortunately for us, George lost two positions at turn one and dropped to P6. Kimi was spun around early in the race meanwhile, so we were always playing catch up. I think we had the necessary pace in the car to finish on the podium but once you are behind, there was no chance to pass.

We’ve got another race next week in Mexico and we will be looking to perform more like we did in Singapore than we have here in Austin. Both Ferrari and Red Bull have regained ground on us in the Constructors’ today, so it’s important we put in a stronger performance in Mexico City. It’s going to be a great battle all the way to the flag in Abu Dhabi.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

Our race was played out in the very early stages today. George was unfortunate to lose two positions when he got boxed in at turn one whilst Kimi was spun around at turn 15 a few laps later. Those setbacks cemented our finishing positions on a disappointing afternoon. That was due to the difficulty in following the car ahead whilst keeping tyre surface temperatures under control. That was an issue faced by the whole field, but it made regaining positions incredibly challenging.

Fortunately, we have the opportunity to bounce back immediately. We will dust ourselves down and look to perform more strongly in Mexico City. The battle for second in the Constructors’ Championship has tightened up once again after today but we’re excited to try and build our advantage once again next week.