Russell misses post-Miami GP press conference for “medical reasons”

George Russell missed the post-Miami Grand Prix press conference for “medical reasons”, after finishing third around the Hard Rock Stadium. 

The Mercedes driver took part in the immediate post-race interviews on the back of a truck as they went round the track and was enjoying the champagne on the podium. 

But an hour later in the press conference room, held in the changing room of the Miami Dolphins, the McLaren pair of race winner Oscar Piastri and second-place Lando Norris were left to field questions from the media on their own. 

Mercedes said that Russell missed the press conference for “medical reasons”. 

George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images

Russell has since been summoned to the stewards after Red Bull launched a protest against him for not slowing under yellow flags. Max Verstappen finished fourth so a penalty against the Englishman would promote the world champion up to third. It is not clear if Russell would be able to attend.

Before the race Russell was joined by the rest of the grid for the drivers’ parade as they took to the track in life-size LEGO models of the F1 cars. 

With Russell behind the wheel and his team-mate Kimi Antonelli sat behind him, the drivers clearly enjoyed driving the giant toy cars. 

With a top speed of 20km/h, it was not about speed but more like bumper karts as the drivers laughed with each other and regularly made contact. 

After the race, Russell joked that he had injured Norris’ leg in a collision of their LEGO cars.

“I think Lando’s a bit upset with me. We had a bit of a crash on the Lego race this morning. I gave him a bit of an injured leg, so I don’t know if he’s going to come and complain at me for something,” Russell said. 

“[The LEGO race] was undoubtedly my favourite race of the day. That was awesome. We need to do that every race.”