Toto Wolff admits Mercedes are ‘in serious trouble’ amid concerns of F1 cost cap breach

During Friday’s second practice for the Mexican Grand Prix, Russell lost control of his W15, resulting in his second major crash in seven days.

Following his FP2 crash, George Russell was observed clutching his ribs.
Russell had set the pace in FP1, but he only managed to complete four laps before losing control at Turn 8 and suffering a serious wreck.

Russell took a hard hit and was seen clutching his ribs as he carefully climbed out of the cockpit after slamming sideways into the TecPro barriers.

After the impact was captured at over 30G, he was transported to the track’s medical center and subsequently said to F1 TV, “I’m okay.” After that one, I’m a little exhausted.

To be honest, I have no idea what happened. Before I could catch it, the car had already begun to bounce along the ground and was spinning.

Right now, everything seems to be happening one after the other.

It’s annoying because we were very strong and quick in FP1. For some reason, the thing just started going on me this time even though I tried cutting that corner and taking the same line.

Mercedes had the necessary parts on hand to fix his car before Saturday’s action, but Toto Wolff assured Sky Deutschland that his driver was fine.

Wolff stated, “35G, so that was a really big impact.” Although he was brought to the medical center, he is doing fine.

Naturally, though, the car has significant damage. The parts are in our possession.

“Everything else has to go, but I think we can keep the old chassis,” he continued.

“Everything needs to be checked, including the gearbox and the engine. The car has lost two corners entirely. Thus, there is significant harm.

Russell also crashed during qualifying for the US Grand Prix, making this his second crash in seven days. In addition to Kimi Antonelli’s significant Monza FP1 crash, Mercedes is currently dealing with a significant budget cap issue.

“We’re in serious trouble,” Wolff said.

“Of course, we had a terrible accident with Kimi at Monza, and we are all having a hard time staying within the budget cap. Then last week’s second one with George, and now this one.