"Car is not bringing out the best in me": Russell after difficult Monaco qualifying
- Maham Mir
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
After another difficult session in Monaco, Mercedes’ George Russell had to settle for sixth with his teammate and championship rival taking his fourth career pole position. Behind both Ferrari drivers and the Red Bull pair as well, Russell was the slowest driver of the top three teams in Monaco on this occasion.
Russell, who was forced to retire from the Canadian Grand Prix after a power unit failure, noted that “it’s just been so challenging” for him “over the last few races”. Starting the Canadian Grand Prix on pole position, his first since the season opener in Melbourne, Russell fought against Kimi Antonelli for the win however ultimately had to concede the opportunity to score points.
The new regulations, which were introduced at the start of the 2026 season, have been a cause for a huge adjustment for a lot of the more experienced drivers on the grid, Russell included. Discussing the balance between his driving and the car, the British driver stated “my driving style’s just not working with the car at the moment”.
Perhaps most concerningly for his championship bid, the first of his career as Mercedes have bounced back to form after the disappointment of the ground-effects era, Russell accepted that “I’m not having a lot of confidence in the car right now”. As a result of the lack of confidence, Russell said that “nothing’s clicking”.
Acknowledging the work that has been put into attempting to fix the situation by his side of the Mercedes garage, Russell noted “we’ve done some good work to sort of understand some things with my driving style” however to little success so far as seen in Monaco. Ultimately, Russell conceded that “I think this car is not bringing out the best in me”.
The European part of the calendar is where Russell was able to shine in 2025 however his admission that “I’m sort of scratching my head right now” does not bode well for the upcoming races. With the gap to the front potentially growing again after the end of this race weekend, there’s no doubt the British driver will be hoping to find his form from the early part of the season to maintain his championship bid.
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