Monaco Grand Prix Qualifying: Disaster for Mercedes as George Russell red flag caps off double exit

George Russell, Max Verstappen, Mercedes, Red Bull, Saudi Arabia, 2025 — Photo: © IMAGO

Monaco Grand Prix

Russell completes Mercedes Monaco nightmare after dangerous tunnel incident

Mercedes endured a disaster Saturday in Monaco

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Saturday 24 May 2025 16:48 Updated: 17:12

Mercedes suffered a qualifying disaster in Monaco after George Russell was forced into an early exit.

The Silver Arrows had already lost Kimi Antonelli earlier during the session for the Monaco Grand Prix when the Italian crashed at the end of Q1 coming out of the tunnel.

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But Russell soon joined his team-mate in an official Q2 exit during qualifying at Monte Carlo, when he lost power earlier in a lap and cruised to a halt inside the tunnel, risking a crash, and thus bringing out a red flag to stop the session.

Russell lost power after hitting a bump coming out of the first corner at St. Devote, and proceeded to trundle along for the rest of the lap losing power, before passing an access road and heading into the tunnel to bring chaos to the session.

It was later confirmed the British star was suffering an electrical problem as the prime reason behind his loss of power.

Mercedes face Monaco Grand Prix struggle

The Q2 KO for Mercedes could not have come at a worse time for the team, with Russell set to start a provisional 14th and Antonelli behind him in 15th on a circuit notorious for being difficult to overtake on.

Antonelli had earlier made a poor error coming out of the tunnel, clipping too much of the inside kerb at the harbour chicane, resulting in him crashing into the barrier at low speed.

Mercedes George Russell Kimi Antonelli