Russell finished fifth in Monaco after the red flag spoiled his strategy
George Russell thought he had a shot at a podium finish in the Formula 1 Monaco GP before the early red flag ensured that it would be a race of no pit stops for most drivers.
Russell qualified fifth and went to the grid on the hard tyre with a view to running a long first stint, while all those ahead were on the medium.
That gave him some encouragement, and when Carlos Sainz stopped at Casino on the first lap he moved up to fourth.
However the red flag for the Perez/Magnussen incident gave everyone a free tyre change, and obliged Russell to make his mediums last the distance.
With Sainz regaining his third place for the restart Russell eventually finished where he started in fifth, having held off Max Verstappen.
“Yeah, definitely felt like I had it covered,” he said. “I really thought we were in for a good shot today when I saw everyone starting on the mediums in front of me.
“And especially when Carlos had that puncture, I thought we’ve got a minimum chance to fight for the podium here, and maybe even more.
“We were going to play a bit of a team game to boost our chances. As soon as that red flag went out, everything went out of the window.”
Russell was told early on in the race to slow his pace, essentially to preserve the medium tyres fitted after the red flag for the 77-lap run to the flag. While he initially questioned the decision, he accepted it.
“No, it was definitely the right call,” he said when asked by this writer if it was the correct strategy. “We all know how difficult it is to pass here in Monaco, there was nothing to gain by going faster.
“But actually when I looked at the pace at the end, I think the gap was up to 30 seconds behind Charles at one point, and then we brought it down to 12 seconds, and only four seconds behind the McLaren. So yeah, a lot of positives to take away.”
Like other drivers Russell said that changes should be made to make the Monaco GP more entertaining.
“It’s so great racing here in Monaco, but we need to change something to make it more interesting on a Sunday.
“I think if we only brought soft tyres, a soft tyre wouldn’t last the whole race. And you may even need to do two stops, somebody might try a one-stop. I think just having the whole weekend on softs would solve a lot of problems.”
Adam Cooper F1 