FIA Formula 1 press conference host Tom Clarkson claimed that George Russell “walked out” in Brazil, leaving him with a feeling that the Mercedes driver needs “to chill”.

Russell spoke to the assembled media after what proved a frustrating qualifying session, saying a radio message from his race engineer cost him a shot at pole position.

George Russell accused of having enough and walking out

Russell felt he would have put his Mercedes on pole were it not for his team’s instructions to abandon his lap to create a gap to Alex Albon’s Williams ahead, just moments before the rain got heavier in Sao Paulo.

Carrying a five-place grid drop anyway, Russell was left extremely frustrated with what had happened.

Team principal Toto Wolff came over the radio to his driver, saying: “George, you’re P2.”

The Brit replied: “P2? I don’t want to be P2, I want to be P1. That was a P1 lap.”

Analysis from our resident data expert Uros Radovanovic added serious weight to Russell’s argument.

Following the conclusion of Q3, the top three drivers – Lando Norris, Russell and Kimi Antonelli – headed off to speak in the FIA press conference.

There, Russell had been quizzed on Wolff’s radio message. He spoke of how the pole-worthy time would have meant a lot to him but accepted its irrelevance in the greater scheme of things, considering his penalty for taking a new internal combustion engine.

Clarkson then pressed him again specifically on Wolff’s radio message. That proved to be the final question which Russell answered in the session.

Grand Prix Sunday brought further frustration for Russell who lost significant time with a spin at pit exit after moving from intermediate to dry tyres, though he did recover to finish fourth ahead of teammate Antonelli.

Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast which he presents, Clarkson said of Russell: “He actually walked out of the press conference while it was still going on. He was just done with it. He was done with it.

“I’d asked him a question about that lap that he didn’t complete because he was told not to by his race engineer Marcus Dudley, and when he sort of had enough of answering questions, he just got up and walked out.

“I just came away thinking, ‘George, you need to chill, because this is going to start eating away at you.’

“And then in the race, we all saw what happened.”

Mercedes had been fined after the previous race in Mexico City when Russell failed to complete his mandatory media commitments.

Clarkson suggested that Russell’s frustrations are “cumulative.” He saw his mathematical title hopes come to an end at the Mexican Grand Prix, where Antonelli secured the crown.

It has been a challenging F1 2026 for Russell, the pre-season title favourite for many. Suffering several reliability setbacks along the way, he has had to watch the Italian disappear into the distance and become world champion.

“I think that’s the problem,” said podcast co-star James Hinchcliffe, the multi-time IndyCar race winner, in response to Clarkson.

“But I think that’s what it highlights, is that he’s not been able to move past everything that’s gone on this year, and he’s still hanging on to like he has to prove he can still put a Formula 1 car on pole.

“I don’t think anybody doubts he can still put a Formula 1 car on pole. I think he just needs to just keep believing in himself and know that he’s here for a reason and really try to put this year behind him.

“Because again, if that’s what the frustration was, it shows that he’s still carrying the baggage of the last 19 races.”

Russell can secure Mercedes an F1 2026 clean sweep if he bags P2 in the Drivers’ Championship. With a maximum of three rounds remaining, he sits third, 17 points behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.