George Russell has "spoken from the heart" to admit it was "tough to deal" with seeing his Formula One title bid disintegrate.
The Briton's Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli became the sport's youngest world champion and Italy's first since 1953 on Sunday in Mexico City.
Mercedes were fined for allowing Russell, the clear pre-season favourite, to skip his post-race media duties having left the track early.
Russell's disappointing campaign was in stark contrast to the 20-year-old Antonelli's historic year.
"Now feels like a pretty suitable moment to speak from the heart," Russell wrote on Instagram late on Monday.
"This season started off exactly how I had hoped but it very quickly unravelled with tough luck and poor performances.
"It's been the first proper season of my career where I've had more bad days than good.
"Has it been tough to deal with? Yes, very.
"Has it been tough to pick myself up week in, week out? Yes, very.
"Confusion at times? Often.
"All I know is that I've given it my all and 2026 was not meant to be my year."
In a campaign meant to be all about Russell, the 28-year-old was upstaged by Antonelli and sits fourth in the championship.
Team boss Toto Wolff said Mercedes had let him down with an unresponsive car.
Russell was at pains to congratulate Antonelli for what he called "an absolutely incredible season".
"You truly deserve the championship," he added, and vowed to come back stronger in 2027.
"I will be giving my absolute all to rediscover the performance I have been capable of producing for the majority of my career and fingers crossed a little bit of luck returns," he said.