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George Russell‘s Monaco Grand Prix ended in a points-less 13th place finish after a cascade of penalties turned what should have been a salvageable afternoon into a write-off.
The Mercedes driver picked up a penalty for speeding in the pit lane, then failed to serve it correctly and was handed a drive-through on top of that.
But the pit lane speed infringement wasn’t the only issue. The strategy call before it was the moment that set everything in motion. Russell had been asked to stay out, but amid the safetycar confusion, he peeled into the pitlane anyway, which triggered the chain of events that followed.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff addressed both the botched stop and the broader championship picture in an interview with Sky Sports F1.
“I think we were not completely ready of having him in here,” Wolff said. “We had a bit of a confusion ourselves on the strategy, and then he came in and we didn’t hold him for 5 seconds like we should have, and then it — we missed out on a, you know, on a P3 or P4. It’s a shame.”
Kimi Antonelli dominated the race to claim his fifth win of the season, and with Russell failing to score, the gap between the two Mercedes teammates in the championship extended from 43 points to 68.
When asked directly how he responds to a driver now 68 points behind his young teammate, Wolff said:
“Yeah, we just need to keep going,” he said. “This is a long championship. Last year everybody was saying, ‘Well, this is Piastri’s,’ and then it swung. Obviously Montreal was a drama because we let him down with a possible 25 points, but this is a long championship.”
Antonelli had calmly led from lights out while others around him unravelled – Verstappen facing a devastating issue at the very start, Bottas and Lando Norris among the retirements.
Russell, who started sixth, was trying to make the race work in difficult circumstances, but the team’s own operational errors compounded the problem before the penalties arrived.
Antonelli’s fifth consecutive Grand Prix victory extends a remarkable winning run and further strengthens his championship lead. And right now, the teenager on the other side of the garage is doing nothing to invite a swing. The pressure is entirely on Russell and the pitwall to stop making it easier.
Continue reading...
The Mercedes driver picked up a penalty for speeding in the pit lane, then failed to serve it correctly and was handed a drive-through on top of that.
But the pit lane speed infringement wasn’t the only issue. The strategy call before it was the moment that set everything in motion. Russell had been asked to stay out, but amid the safetycar confusion, he peeled into the pitlane anyway, which triggered the chain of events that followed.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff addressed both the botched stop and the broader championship picture in an interview with Sky Sports F1.
“I think we were not completely ready of having him in here,” Wolff said. “We had a bit of a confusion ourselves on the strategy, and then he came in and we didn’t hold him for 5 seconds like we should have, and then it — we missed out on a, you know, on a P3 or P4. It’s a shame.”
Kimi Antonelli dominated the race to claim his fifth win of the season, and with Russell failing to score, the gap between the two Mercedes teammates in the championship extended from 43 points to 68.
When asked directly how he responds to a driver now 68 points behind his young teammate, Wolff said:
“Yeah, we just need to keep going,” he said. “This is a long championship. Last year everybody was saying, ‘Well, this is Piastri’s,’ and then it swung. Obviously Montreal was a drama because we let him down with a possible 25 points, but this is a long championship.”
The Season Russell Needed to Win
Antonelli had calmly led from lights out while others around him unravelled – Verstappen facing a devastating issue at the very start, Bottas and Lando Norris among the retirements.
Russell, who started sixth, was trying to make the race work in difficult circumstances, but the team’s own operational errors compounded the problem before the penalties arrived.
Antonelli’s fifth consecutive Grand Prix victory extends a remarkable winning run and further strengthens his championship lead. And right now, the teenager on the other side of the garage is doing nothing to invite a swing. The pressure is entirely on Russell and the pitwall to stop making it easier.
Continue reading...
