George Russell’s Drivers’ Championship titles have been left in ruins after a Monaco Grand Prix to forget. The Brit finished in 14th after a chaotic race on the streets of Monte Carlo, but that only tells half of the story.
Power problems brought Max Verstappen‘s race to an early end, while another engine issue brought Lando Norris‘ race to an early end. Things were only just getting started though, as Lance Stroll crash forced a safety car onto the track.
It bunched things up, with leader Kimi Antonelli joined by Ferrari duo Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc at the front of the race. But no sooner had racing restarted, two Ferrari drivers became one, when Leclerc suffered the exact same fate as Stroll, with what appeared to be an identical incident.
A red flag was called, with Antonelli able to hold on to his lead when the final eight laps were raced out. However, while all of this was going on, Russell was enduring his own nightmare in Monaco, with the Mercedes man handed several penalties by the stewards.
The first came when he was adjudged to have sped while entering the pit lane, with the usual limit reduced because of the narrowness of the Monaco track. It’s commonplace for drivers to serve the penalty during a pit, but miscommunication between the driver and the paddock meant Russell didn’t stop for the five seconds.
As such, a fresh drive through penalty was given to Russell, leaving the 28-year-old even further down the standings. Fuming with the decision, Russell is said to have marched to the steward’s office during the red flag to argue his case.
While the Monaco Grand Prix result was labelled as provisional, at the end of racing, Russell found himself all the way down in third on the Drivers’ Championship table. With his second-place finish, Hamilton jumped up to second in the standings for the first time since the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Overall, Russell finds himself 68 points behind leader and team-mate Antonelli, who was celebrating his fifth consecutive race victory. It spells bad news for Russell, given that no driver in the history of Formula One has failed to win the championship after winning five races in a row.
Speaking after proceedings, Antonelli said: “It’s been an incredible weekend and race. It was one of those days where we had incredible pace. It was all coming so naturally, the car was feeling incredible and that was giving me the confidence to push. It was a very enjoyable day.
“The job is not finished. It’s still a long season. I’ve got to keep pushing, keep raising the bar. The goal is to keep performing like this. The team has done an incredible job and given me… given us an incredible car. I’ve got so much support from the team as well and from my family. This is a really good moment.”