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George Russell qualifying P6 ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix while Kimi Antonelli snatched pole highlighted a key issue he is facing.
Antonelli managed to steal pole position from Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen in the final moments of Q3 yesterday, marking yet another front row start for the young Italian.
While Antonelli received a special mention from Hamilton after qualifying, his teammate, George Russell, probably felt disappointed in himself, earning a disappointing start from P6 today.
The grid is set for the Monaco Grand Prix – Which driver will make the biggest gains?
Kimi Antonelli has quickly managed to surpass Russell as Mercedes’ top driver this season, despite many experts backing the Briton to win the driver’s championship this season.
And as Russell tries to look for answers, he believes his struggles come down to his own driving style under the new regulations.
READ MORE: Damon Hill disagrees with Jolyon Palmer about Kimi Antonelli’s approach to the 2026 F1 title fight
George Russell admits his ‘driving style’ could be behind struggles after poor Monaco GP qualifying
Speaking after qualifying at the Monaco Grand Prix, George Russell admitted that the weekend hadn’t panned out the way he had hoped, with the issues in practice and qualifying being a prime example.
He added that something about his driving style isn’t carrying over well into the current generation of cars, despite his initial success this season.
“This has been a very challenging weekend for me so far, and that continued into qualifying. It has been a bit of a weakness of mine recently, and unfortunately, it didn’t click this weekend.
“There were a few good laps across the hour, and FP3 had been promising, but those moments were too few and far between. You need full confidence in the grip level you are getting, particularly around here, and I didn’t quite have that.
“It’s been a frustrating run for me recently, and I need to understand why I am struggling to get the tyres working in the way they need to be.
“Clearly, something in my driving style isn’t helping deliver what I need to; it worked well last year, but this new generation of cars may need something slightly different.”
What do you think of George Russell’s idea to scrap the race in Monaco in favour of an extra qualifying session?
George Russell remaining optimistic ahead of challenging Monaco GP
Speaking further, Russell admitted he had no clear answer as to why he was struggling, but still promised to try and make the most of the Monaco Grand Prix weekend.
“I don’t have a clear answer just yet, but will work hard with the team to get on top of it.
“Looking ahead to tomorrow, it could be a long afternoon starting from P6. That said, it’s Monaco and anything can happen, so we will stay optimistic and see what we can do.”
After seeing him get surpassed by Kimi Antonelli, Damon Hill urged Russell to stop the mind games and to simply focus on getting the best results possible.
Of course, with the run of form Antonelli is in, it’s hard to make that happen for Russell, even with the immense talent he has as a driver.
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