George Russell faced a tough weekend in Monaco, leaving him to wonder what could have been. His struggles began early when his car lost power during Qualifying, forcing him to stop and exit in the Q2 stage. This added to the difficulties Mercedes faced, as teammate Kimi Antonelli had already crashed in Q1.
Russell and Antonelli started the race in 14th and 15th positions. They had hoped to move up into the points-paying positions. The new rule requiring two mandatory pit stops offered some strategy options. However, Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon in the Williams cars blocked Russell’s progress and disrupted those plans.
During the race, Russell was initially stuck behind Sainz and later behind Albon. Frustrated, he chose to pass Albon by cutting over the Nouvelle Chicane without giving the position back. As a result, the race stewards gave Russell a drive-through penalty for leaving the track and gaining an unfair advantage. Russell told his engineer he was willing to accept the penalty. In the end, he finished just outside the points in 11th place.
When asked if those were some of the most frustrating laps he had ever driven in Formula 1, Russell said, “Yeah! But we knew this was likely going to happen. We had a plan with Kimi to pit early and try to back up the pack. Then we would swap positions and do the same again.”
He explained that other teams, including Red Bull and Williams, also pitted early. But this strategy did not pay off, as they finished outside the points. At one point, Russell said he decided to just enjoy the race, especially since he had no chance to do so in Qualifying.
“I drove 25 laps at qualifying pace, and I enjoyed that,” he said. “Ironically, I finished higher after taking the drive-through penalty than I would have without it. Unfortunately, the system is flawed.”
Russell clarified that taking a penalty was not the original plan. “We wanted to overtake fairly. The team told us that an overtake chance is nearly zero unless you have a lead of more than three seconds. You have a 50% chance with about a four-and-a-half-second gap.”
He added that Sainz and Albon defended well, sometimes dangerously, especially with Albon’s braking. “It was never the plan to cut the corner, but I didn’t want to spend the whole race stuck behind someone and risking a crash. Drivers braking on the straight and playing team games made it harder.”
Russell ended the interview with a smile, joking about the situation with Albon: “I’m having dinner with Alex tonight, so he’s going to get the bill!”
