George Russell left the qualifying session for the Formula 1 Monaco GP, without hiding his frustration with his recent performance. Only sixth on the starting grid, the Mercedes driver admitted not understanding the reasons for his drop in performance, especially after seeing his teammate, Kimi Antonelli, take pole position on the streets of the Principality.
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The result increases the pressure on Russell at an important moment of the season. In addition to starting behind his main rivals, he enters the race seeing Antonelli extend his prominence in the championship fight, where he already has a 43-point advantage among the Mercedes drivers.
After the session, the Briton recalled the beginning of the year to highlight the difference compared to the current scenario: “If I knew the reason, I would be able to avoid being in this position. The start of the season was easy. In every lap I did in free practice and qualifying sessions it was P1, or in the worst case P2, in all sessions. Q1, Q2 and Q3,” he stated.
Russell explained that the last few races presented a completely different reality: “In the last three races I simply haven’t been anywhere. Even in Canada it was a struggle to get a decent lap. I ended up doing something special in the right sessions, but it was almost pulling something out of a hat and having a bit of luck at the right time. That’s how I am now. I really don’t know,” he said.
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The British driver also pointed to a possible explanation linked to the characteristics of the current car. According to him, some changes made by Mercedes seem to favor his natural driving style less, while Antonelli has been able to extract more performance from the equipment.
“Kimi and I have different driving styles. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but that was clear last year and remains clear this year. Last year the car suited me very well, while this year it seems to suit him perfectly,” he added.
Even recognizing that he needs to adapt, Russell believes this doesn’t fully explain his loss of competitiveness: “Maybe I need to adapt and I’ll do my best to do so, but it still doesn’t answer why the start of the year was so easy. I really don’t know. I’m quite confused at the moment,” concluded the Mercedes driver, who will have a complicated task in Monaco to limit the damage in the championship fight.
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