George Russell had a difficult qualifying session for the Formula 1 Monaco GP and secured only sixth position on the starting grid for Sunday, 7. While his teammate and championship rival, Kimi Antonelli, took pole position, the Briton finished about four tenths behind the best time.
Read more F1: Check out the full qualifying result of the 2026 Monaco GP
The result represented a contrast within Mercedes on Saturday in Monte Carlo. Antonelli shone by securing first position for the race, while Russell failed to find the necessary performance to fight for the top spots.
After the session, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff attributed the driver’s difficulties to a lack of confidence in the car during qualifying. According to the executive, the problem began to develop after a complicated start to the activity, even with a performance considered satisfactory in FP3.
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“He simply never had confidence in the car. Qualifying started badly. FP3 was still quite acceptable, but when you start chasing performance and lose confidence, it’s extremely difficult to recover that,” Wolff told Sky Sports.
The Austrian believes Russell could have been much closer to the leaders if he had found the ideal setup a little earlier. “I think if there was one more session, he would be there fighting with the others. But he had no grip at all, and in Monaco, without grip, you can’t attack. You simply can’t push the pace,” concluded the Mercedes boss.
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