Mercedes F1 star George Russell goes UNDERCOVER during Mexican GP absence

George Russell, Mercedes, Saudi Arabia, 2025 — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 Social

Where's George? Mercedes F1 star goes UNDERCOVER during Mexican GP absence

Can you spot George?

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Saturday 25 October 2025 15:57

You’d think F1 fans would notice a 6 ft 1 gangly guy in skinny jeans amongst them in the crowd, but no!

All it took for George Russell to slip in unnoticed at the Mexican Grand Prix was a bomber jacket and a wrestler mask.

During FP1 in Mexico City, Russell handed his Mercedes over to reserve driver Frederik Vesti as part of F1’s mandatory rookie rule.

Article continues under video

Instead of sitting out practice on the pit wall however, Russell opted to don a disguise and watch the unfolding action from the lofty grandstands at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Mercedes shared a video on social media, where Russell spoke to the camera, and said: “Someone’s borrowing my car. I’ve not seen an F1 car on track for a long, long time so let’s go.”

As Russell departed the Mercedes garage he was thrown a Mexican wrestler mask to cover his face and a bomber jacket to shroud his real identity - although if you ask me, the skinny jeans were still a dead giveaway.

Russell dons disguise at Mexican GP

Russell scampered up the stairs of the grandstand incognito, looking about as shifty as a criminal about to pull off a bank robbery.

Luckily for Russell, most of the fans in the grandstand were too engrossed in their phones to clock a real life F1 driver was in their midst, which just goes to show how much you can miss if you give into endless doomscrolling.

Russell exclaimed over the noise of the crowd, ‘that’s my car, he’s in my car’, when he spotted Vesti out on track, but even this didn't trigger the interest of his fellow spectators.

The Aston Martin clad fans in front were none the wiser who was behind them - either that or they had a chosen to ignore the British accent bellowing behind them, and honestly, who can blame them?

Clearly enjoying the high of his grandstand skulduggery, Russell skipped back to the garage with a newfound joie de verve, jumping the turnstile back into the paddock, which clearly startled the work experience kid in the process.

F1 Mexican Grand Prix