– George Russell is at a loss after the qualifying defeat against Kimi Antonelli and explains: “Honestly, I don’t know what’s going on.”
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“Something about the way I’m driving the car doesn’t seem to fit,” the Mercedes driver says after the session. While Antonelli is on pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix, Russell is in sixth place, almost three tenths behind.
Here, the championship runner-up draws a comparison to the start of the season: “In Melbourne and also in China, apart from [technical problems], I was first in every session. Every lap worked out.”
In contrast, Russell explains: “In the last three races, I was nowhere. Except for my last laps in both Q3 sessions, that was even the case in Canada. I have no answer for that.”
The 28-year-old emphasizes: “I think we both certainly have different driving styles. That was already the case last year, but then it played into my hands. This year it clearly plays into his hands, but that doesn’t answer why I was so good at the beginning of the year and now I’m so bad.”
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“We need to look at that,” Russell continues. “It’s clear in the data. The difference lies in how we stress the tires. [Kimi] gets the tires into a better operating window than I do.”
Russell explains: “He finds it easier to achieve a good balance throughout the lap and the resulting pace. But, yes, I don’t know why that is.”
While Russell is known for a very smooth driving style, Antonelli pushes his car closer to the limit. The different styles had already caused discussions in Miami, as the former Williams driver had major problems with the street circuit.
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This one-off might be developing into a certain trend from weekend to weekend. After all, Antonelli has won the last four Grand Prix races in a row.
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