George Russell admitted he was growing weary of having to pick himself up after repeated disappointments this season, saying he had not expected to face such setbacks week after week.
The Mercedes driver endured another frustrating weekend at the Mexico City Grand Prix, where he finished sixth despite starting from the front row after his car suddenly lost pace during the race.
Italian 20-year-old teammate Kimi Antonelli finished third in the same race to become Formula One's youngest race winner.
"When you get kicked to the ground, you pick yourself back up. And you get kicked down again, you pick yourself back up. And I was hoping to do that maybe twice in the season, not every other weekend, really," Russell told reporters Thursday ahead of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, where Mercedes could secure the 2026 constructors' title.
"When you're away from home three weeks in a row and you have another race like what happened in Mexico, where a chance of victory, a chance of the podium just disappears totally outside of your control, it's tough to deal with," he added.
The Briton, who entered the season as the title favorite, said technical issues had affected him at 14 races but acknowledged that it would be naive to blame bad luck alone for his failure to mount a sustained title challenge.
"I don't think the team have let me down, honestly, because these things do happen. Nobody intends for it to happen. We're all trying our best to deliver the best," he said.
"And last year, we had a car that was extremely reliable and we only finished fourth in the championship. This year, we have a car that's extremely fast but has been unreliable. So which one do you prefer?"
Russell, 28, claimed the first victory of his Formula One career at Interlagos with Mercedes in 2022.
Editorial note: I changed "youngest champion" to "youngest race winner" because Antonelli's third-place finish would not make him the youngest Formula One champion. The original wording was factually incorrect.
