A chaotic and wet 2023 Monaco GP provided George Russell with a great opportunity to get his first podium finish of the season. Unfortunately, a costly error on the Mercedes driver’s part prevented that from happening. In an interview with Sky Sports after the race, Russell lamented over losing out on what could have been a P3 finish for him.
Russell started the Monaco GP from P8 on the grid, and even though it isn’t easy to pass other cars around the circuit, Russell’s strategy seemed to give him a great chance at making places. He was one of the few drivers to gamble on rain falling towards the end of the race and didn’t make a single stop until lap 55.
Unlike most drivers, Russell went directly from his hard compound tyres to the intermediate compound tyres. Everything was pointing toward a P3 finish for the Briton but after a lock-up at Miramar, he lost valuable time. To make matters worse, the 25-year-old made another costly error while rejoining the track.
George Russell was disappointed in himself for making a huge blunder
Russell locked up and went off into the runoff area at Miramar. Thankfully, his car was not going at a fast pace, and he didn’t make any contact with the barriers. What happened next, however, disappointed the Mercedes star immensely.
He rejoined the track almost instantly but didn’t check his vicinity. He entered the track in a very unsafe manner, which didn’t leave Red Bull’s Sergio Perez any space and resulted in them coming together on the track. The race officials didn’t waste a lot of time in awarding Russell a five-second time penalty which he didn’t seem to object to.
Should have had a podium today thanks to a great strategy, but a mistake from my side on the out lap cost us the two positions to end up P5. Very disappointed with the error but a lot of positives to take into Barcelona. pic.twitter.com/ytvFFWRuww
— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) May 28, 2023
“P3 was definitely achievable today,” he said. “I’ve only learnt my mistake wasn’t shown on TV. I was comfortably ahead of Lewis and Ocon because I hadn’t pitted on the slick.”
“I couldn’t see anything” 🙈
Contact between Perez and Russell as the Briton rejoins the track at Mirabeau 💥😮#MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/eaUhH78Pfy
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 28, 2023
“I went straight from the hard to the intermediate. So [I] came out in P5 behind the Ferraris who were on slicks so we were effectively P3 on the road. Really disappointed because if that mistake didn’t happen P3 was almost guaranteed.”
Mercedes closing the gap to Aston Martin
Mercedes couldn’t finish on the podium in Monte Carlo, but left the Principality with a fairly good points haul. Hamilton finished P4 and Russell finished P5, which gave them a collective total of 28 points.
A chaotic race out there in challenging conditions. But we made up places to score some good points. 👏 pic.twitter.com/Oauo5RdrhK
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) May 28, 2023
The Silver Arrows, who were aiming to close the gap to Aston Martin ahead of them will be very pleased. Fernando Alonso did finish on the podium, which means he added 18 points to the Silverstone-based team’s total. Lance Stroll, however, couldn’t finish the race which is where they lost out.
Mercedes are now just 1 point behind Aston Martin in the constructors’ championship.
