OK, when I hit a lob we both come to the net,” George Russell instructs me. “But stick to your side. Force them to play down the middle.” It is late Wednesday morning at the Centro Deportivo Chapultepec in Mexico City and I am getting a brief taste of what it is like to be Russell’s team-mate over a game of padel.

Mercedes driver George Russell used a Lucha Libre mask to sneak into the crowd Friday during opening practice ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Mercedes driver George Russell was left unhappy after a number of drivers left the track at the Mexico Grand Prix - and went unpunished

George Russell pleaded his case for being allowed past Kimi Antonelli, but the call came too late for him to make a further impact.

After watching FP1 undercover in a lucha libre mask, the Mercedes driver returned for FP2 and cautioned that the short, twisty layout will make clean laps critical in qualifying

George Russell joked that he would probably have done the same thing as the Red Bull staff member regarding the tape incident if he were in a similar situation at the United States Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver,