How Monaco "nightmare" was a step back in time for George Russell

George Russell

How Monaco "nightmare" was a step back in time for Russell

Russell finished 14th in the Monaco Grand Prix

Ewan Gale

Wednesday 26 May 2021 11:34

George Russell endured what he has described as a "nightmare" of a Monaco Grand Prix that proved to be a step back in time for the Williams driver.

Russell finished 14th ahead of team-mate Nicholas Latifi, Yuki Tsunoda, whose AlphaTauri team attempted a strategic gamble that failed to pay off, and the two Haas cars of Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher.

The Briton has revealed a degree of empathy for Mazepin and Schumacher who were lapped three times apiece, reminding him of Williams' performance in 2019.

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On dealing with blue flags around the twisting street circuit, Russell explained: "It is incredibly difficult.

"When you back off you lose all tyre temperature and you have no grip so it is a bit of a nightmare.

"Out of all the places, this is the worst to have a bad car and a slow one so it was tough for me but I don't envy the Haas guys. That was us two years ago."

As for Williams' performance on this occasion, Russell added: "I would say [it went] as we expected really.

"We know we have quite a sensitive car and that doesn't necessarily induce a huge amount of confidence and confidence is everything around a track like this.

"It was a pretty dull race overall and from my side it was nothing too spectacular. It was just a race on my own, looking in my mirrors for the blue flags. We go to the next one."

Ricciardo and Alonso a hindrance

Despite Williams' struggles, Russell spent most of the start of the race mixing with Daniel Ricciardo's McLaren and the Alpine of Fernando Alonso.

Russell suggested, however, this actually hindered his progress as time went on.

"The first stint was really difficult," added Russell. "I was stuck behind Ricciardo and Alonso.

"They were really struggling for pace for whatever reason and as a consequence, I damaged the tyres a lot which made me pit early and then I came back out into traffic.

"That was sort of a knock-on effect. We showed signs of a strong pace when we came out of the pits on the hard tyres.

"But as soon as we got the blue flags, you lose the tyre temperature and there is not much we can do. Nothing too interesting, we finished where we expected."