Mercedes experiences qualifying horror in Monaco: While George Russell’s car shuts itself down, Kimi Antonelli crashes after an “unnecessary mistake”
It has been three years since Mercedes suffered a similar setback in qualifying as it did this Saturday in Monaco. In Imola in 2022, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finished eleventh and thirteenth on the grid and did not make it into Q3. Since then, at least one Silver Arrow driver has always made it into the top 10 – until today.
From Mercedes’ point of view, qualifying in Monaco can certainly be described as a bitter defeat. Neither Russell nor Andrea Kimi Antonelli were able to set a decent time in Q2, meaning they will start Sunday’s race from 14th and 15th on the grid – a particularly undesirable scenario in Monte Carlo.
While Antonelli was at fault due to an accident in Q1, Russell suddenly suffered a technical failure that left the Englishman stranded in the tunnel and necessitated the red flag.
The cause sounds strange at first: a bump in the track is said to have simply shut down the Mercedes W16 engine. “That bump had been there all weekend, I felt it all weekend, but for some reason, at that moment, the entire engine shut down when I drove over the bump,” Russell explained.
“It’s really disappointing,” he lamented, because he believes Mercedes could have achieved a strong result. ”I really feel like we could have been in the top four today. Now we’re not.”
All power to the marshals! F1 MonacoGP @GeorgeRussell63 pic. twitter.com/Q0WRYILNjj
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 24, 2025
After initially getting a little stuck with the setup, Russell went back to the original setup and immediately felt good again.
“It clicked in Q1. We were one of the few drivers who didn’t take a new set of tires. I only drove one corner in Q2 and was already almost two tenths faster. That alone would have easily been enough for Q3 with two sets of tires,” he believes.
“We had two hard sets, we had a real chance this weekend, but now it’s all gone. The weekend is over, so it’s pretty frustrating.”
Antonelli with ‘unnecessary mistake’
Teammate Antonelli was unable to compete in Q2 because he crashed into the barrier at the harbor chicane in Q1 and parked his car in the track barrier.
Out jumps Kimi
He clipped the barrier at the entry to the Nouvelle ChicaneF1 MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/VB8iKsIkxS
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 24, 2025
The Italian speaks of an “unnecessary mistake” because, in his opinion, he would have made it into Q2 anyway. Like Isack Hadjar the day before, Antonelli touched the guardrail with his left rear wheel when turning into the chicane. “I just couldn’t turn right anymore,” so he drove head-on into the track barrier.
“That was my mistake, so I definitely need to take another look at it and figure out what I need to do differently,” he said, knowing that a lot more could have been possible. ‘The car definitely felt better in qualifying, and I was trying to get into a rhythm. It’s just a shame to end it like this, because today it’s definitely all my fault.’
Will the new rule push Mercedes to the front?
Mercedes is expecting an extremely difficult race on Sunday, so it’s probably good timing for the team that the FIA is trying something new in Monaco and mandating two pit stops. Because no one knows what that means for the race, there may well be opportunities for teams further back.
“There will certainly be some crazy strategies,” believes Russell, but he sees a problem: ‘We’re in P14. If people go for crazy strategies, half will go one way and half the other. No matter which way we go, we’ll still be stuck behind five cars.’
For him, the two strategies are: pit stop after lap 1 or stay out for a very long time. It remains to be seen what Mercedes will decide.
“We’ll probably decide once we know which tires the teams are starting on,” says Russell. ”Those starting on the C6 are planning a very early stop. Those starting on the hard tires want to stay out for a long time. Once we see what they’re starting with, we’ll make our decision.”
