Watch: George Russell suffers a crash during the F1 Mexican GP FP2

Mercedes driver George Russell suffered a huge crash during the FP2 session at the 2024 Mexican Grand Prix on Friday. The British driver looked comfortable in his W15, heading into the FP2 session, which featured the Pirelli Tire test as he had topped the FP1 session by a margin of 0.317s from Ferrari's Carlos Sainz.

However, Mercedes wasn't able to get much data from Russell about the new tires as he crashed into the barriers at Turn 8. The 26-year-old slowly started to throttle in the second sector of the track and approached the snake-like esses after his W15 bottomed out at the kerb and sent him spinning.

In a clip floating on social media, George Russell could be seen losing control of his car and being a passenger as he hit the barriers hard. The impact of the crash looked to have taken wind out of the sails of the Mercedes man as indicated after he was holding his ribs.

It was the second high-profile crash for Russell after he crashed out of the qualifying session at the US Grand Prix last weekend.

George Russell chimes in on his crash in the FP2 session

Mercedes driver George Russell stated that he was "okay" after a heavy crash into the barriers in the FP2 session but revealed that it was frustrating to miss out on important track time as he was strong during the FP1 session. Speaking with F1.com, the Brit said:

“I’m okay, definitely felt a bit winded after that one. 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. 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,” he added.

He further recognized that the team members and mechanics had a job on their hands given the wreckage after the crash, adding:

"There is a lot of work on for the team in the garage overnight now, unfortunately. We lost out on a lot of laps in FP2 so FP3 will be important for us to get the car in a good place ahead of Qualifying and Sunday’s race."

George Russell was running the old spec given the team did not have enough upgrades to put his car after he crashed in the Q3 session at the Circuit of Americas last weekend running an upgraded package. He eventually managed to finish the FP2 session in P18 despite only driving for 15 minutes.