George Russell has expressed surprise at Red Bull’s strong performance during Friday practice at the Monaco Grand Prix, marking the first time this season that Mercedes failed to secure a top-three position. Both Ferrari drivers dominated the timesheets across the two practice sessions, with Max Verstappen consistently finishing third ahead of both Mercedes cars.
The British driver managed to claim fourth place in FP2, outpacing teammate Kimi Antonelli, but remained nearly four-tenths of a second behind Lewis Hamilton’s session-topping time of 1:13.026. This represents a significant deficit for a Mercedes team that has enjoyed strong early-season form until arriving at the principality.
Russell acknowledged that while Ferrari’s pace was anticipated, Red Bull’s competitiveness came as an unexpected challenge. “We expected Ferrari to be the guys to beat, and a lot of people thought that was just chat, but they clearly seem to be,” the 26-year-old explained. “I think Red Bull have also been a bit of a surprise for us, we knew out of the races so far that this was going to be our most challenging, but it’s probably been slightly more challenging than we would have hoped.”
The Mercedes driver suggested that major setup changes left the W17 not quite “nailed” after Friday running, though he noted improvements between the two sessions. Russell pointed to Ferrari’s historical strength on street circuits, attributing it to their car’s mechanical characteristics that perform well when corners drop away, a trait he believes has been consistent for a decade.
Despite Mercedes’ current predicament, Russell remains cautiously optimistic about finding performance overnight. “We did make some good improvements from FP1 into FP2, and we need to make the same step again overnight, as I don’t think we nailed it, so there is room to improve,” he said, while questioning whether any improvements would be sufficient to challenge for victory.