Alonso and Russell criticise stewards over first-lap runoff at Mexico

Fernando Alonso and George Russell publicly criticised race stewards after the opening lap of Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix when several drivers left the track, rejoined and emerged ahead, a move the stewards did not penalise. The incident at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez involved multiple cars running wide through the first chicane on the opening sequence of turns, and prompted complaints from drivers who said they had stayed on the racing line only to be disadvantaged.

Alonso said he had made a good start and fought into the first corner, only to see rivals go straight across the chicane and rejoin “three or four cars in front of me. So it’s a little bit unfair.” He told his team on the radio to report the incident to officials, but no action was taken and Alonso later retired from the race after his brakes overheated. Several drivers were identified as having cut the opening sequence of turns, including Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, with other cars also taking the runoff before rejoining.

Russell, who had been demoted on the opening lap after adopting a cautious inside line, used a more colourful phrase to describe the situation, saying it was “like allowing you to...