Mercedes were left to pay the penalty after George Russell was a no-show for media commitments following the F1 Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday.

The 28-year-old British star had gone into the 2026 season as title favourite, but instead watched his 20-year-old team-mate Kimi Antonelli storm to world championship glory.

The Italian clinched the title at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Sunday, becoming the sport's youngest ever world champion thanks to a third-place finish behind Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.

Russell meanwhile trailed home sixth following another disappointing race, after which he failed to show for the normal media commitments all drivers undertake.

It was later revealed that he had left the circuit, and he subsequently failed to appear at a hearing called by the stewards in Mexico City.

FIA rule on George Russell absence, fine Mercedes

The stewards ruled on Russell's absence, opting to give Mercedes a €5,000 fine for breaching Article B10.1.4e of the FIA F1 Regulations.

The official FIA ruling document revealed: "The Stewards received a report from the FIA Media Delegate and summoned the driver and team representative (document 82). The driver failed to attend the hearing and the team representative gave evidence via telephone."

The statement continued: "The Stewards heard from the team representative that the driver had left the circuit without attending the post race media commitments.

"Noting that the Stewards can proceed to make a determination in the case of a non attendance at a hearing, a penalty of €5,000 is imposed on the competitor."

To add to Russell's misery, Sunday's result saw him drop from second place to fourth in the Drivers' standings as he was overtaken by both Verstappen and Hamilton.

Russell 'distraught' according to team boss Wolff

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff defended Russell for his no-show, and praised the Englishman for congratulating team-mate Antonelli on his title win.

"I saw George after the race on the FIA scales, and obviously he's distraught about the situation. It was a great show of sportsmanship to go and see Kimi.

"I have known George for such a long time. So, I saw him and thought, for a racing driver, this is a catastrophic moment.

"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.

"So, him not doing the media work, or leaving the track, is absolutely understandable. Him staying would have actually surprised me."