Mercedes in “serious trouble” following George Russell’s big crash in FP2 of the Mexican F1 Grand Prix

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff revealed that the team is in "big trouble" with the budget cap after George Russell's massive crash in Mexico. He went into the wall in the early minutes of the second practice session.

The budget cap is a huge constraint for the F1 teams, limiting the resources they can spend on the team in a year. It is done to keep the sport competitive as teams with large financial backing can bring upgrades rather easily compared to those at the bottom of the grid. It also includes the money spent on car repairs, and Mercedes currently seems to be in some trouble.

After George Russell crashed during FP2, Wolff did not seem too pleased. Later, while speaking to Sky Germany, he revealed that a huge part of the car would need to be changed because of the impact. He described it as "serious damage."

"I think we can keep the old chassis, but everything else has to go out," Wolff said.

"The engine has to come out, the gearbox has to be checked and then everything else. Two corners of the car are completely gone. So it's serious damage."

He further mentioned that with Mercedes future driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli's crash in Italy and George Russell's heavy impact in Austin and Mexico, the budgetary issues could cause trouble for the team.

"We're in serious trouble. We are all struggling to stay within the budget cap and of course we had a bad accident with Kimi [Antonelli] at Monza. Then the second one with George last week [in Austin] and now again this week."

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George Russell frustrated after crashing during Mexico Free Practice

After his heavy impact on the Tecpro barrier, George Russell revealed that he was left "winded." While making his way through the esses, his W15 took too much kerb on turn eight that left him unsettled with extreme impact.

With the heavy damage that Wolff mentioned, a lot of work stands ahead of the team to fix the car before the third practice and the qualifying sessions.

Meanwhile, Russell was seemingly left frustrated after his crash.

"I’m okay, definitely felt a bit winded after that one," Russell said (via Formula 1). "Honestly, I don’t know what happened. Just the car started bouncing on the ground and before I even had a chance to catch it, I was already spinning."

This is his second crash in two races. During the qualifying session at COTA last week, he crashed into the wall which had a major impact on his car. Reacting to the crash in Mexico, he claimed that he took the corner in the same way he did during the first practice session, but the car reacted differently this time.

"It seems like it’s one thing after another at the moment. It’s frustrating. FP1 we were very strong, very fast. Tried to take the same line, cutting that corner and for whatever reason on this occasion in FP2 the thing just started going on me," George Russell said.

The qualifying session will be an important one for Russell as the circuit in Mexico isn't the fastest. Despite an extremely long main straight, the top speed of the cars remains relatively low because of the high altitude.