Martin Brundle suspects George Russell won’t be happy with Mercedes after ‘odd’ incident at Monza

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Mercedes driver George Russell qualified P6 for the 2025 F1 Italian Grand Prix, but will start Sunday’s race at Monza from P5 due to Ferrari ace Lewis Hamilton’s grid penalty.

The Silver Arrows threatened to join the battle for pole position at Monza this Saturday, but Russell would only post a personal-best Q3 lap time of 1:19.157. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen scored pole for the Italian GP with a 1:18.792, as he beat McLaren’s Lando Norris by 0.077s.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will start the Italian GP from the second row of the grid. Mercedes will also lock out the third row with Russell ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, as Hamilton’s five-place grid penalty for the Italian GP will drop him down to P10.

Russell’s 1:19.157 lap in Q3 at Monza on Saturday only narrowly beat Antonelli, as his Italian rookie teammate posted a 1:19.200. Yet Russell felt more may have been possible without a mishap with his own team during qualifying for the Italian GP that surprised Martin Brundle.

Martin Brundle suspects Mercedes annoyed George Russell at Monza with their Italian Grand Prix qualifying tyre strategy

Brundle expects Mercedes annoyed Russell during qualifying for the Italian GP after sending the 27-year-old out for his final Q3 run on a set of the soft compound C5 Pirelli tyres. Russell was immediately surprised to see the red-walled rubber, having requested the medium C4s.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about the 2025 F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza

Russell had used the medium Pirelli tyres to strong effect in Q1 when he set the overall pace with a 1:19.414, enough to beat Verstappen’s 1:19.455 set on softs. The Briton had also only set a 1:19.287 in Q2 after switching onto the softs, while Verstappen found 0.315s to get P1.

Brundle told Sky Sports F1 (6/9, 16:04): “He’ll be chewing a bit when he goes into the pits. It’s a bit odd with all of the knowledge, data and communication systems when a driver goes out [of] the pit lane and goes, ‘What are these tyres?’ It always surprises me a lot.”

Antonelli only set a 1:19.747 during Q1 at the Italian GP on Saturday with a set of soft tyres. But the home hero found a groove in Q2, with the Bologna boy bagging P2 in the timesheet with a 1:19.245. The 19-year-old only found another 0.045s in Q3, to finish qualifying in P7.

Miscommunication with Mercedes caused George Russell’s Q3 tyre drama at Monza

While Brundle feels it is “odd” that drivers and teams can be on different pages despite all of the data and tools at their disposal, Russell admitted that his tyre situation in Q3 was caused by a miscommunication between himself and Mercedes during qualifying for the Italian GP.

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Russell told Sky Sports (16:37): “We run it in Q1, and I was the quickest. And then after Q2, I said I’d like to use the mediums. I just felt more comfortable on it. It wasn’t the first time this season that mediums have, for some cars at least, been faster.

“I’m not going to stand here and say, ‘If only’. We ultimately just didn’t do a good job in Q3 anyway. But, yeah, a bit annoying.

“In all honesty, I probably wasn’t totally clear enough. I just said after Q1 I’d like to use the medium, and I sort of re-emphasised during the middle of Q2. So, I asked if we’re sticking to the plan, and they said ‘Yes’.

“But I thought the plan was put in the mediums. They thought the plan was [to] put in the softs. So, for me, I thought it was quite clear just because of the performance we showed. So, yeah, a bit of an error on both halves really.”

Russell will now hope that his miscommunication with Mercedes about which tyres to use in Q3 at Monza does not cost him in Sunday’s Italian GP. The King’s Lynn native finished third in the 2022 Italian GP in his first term for Mercedes, but has not returned to the rostrum since.