George Russell momentarily believed he had a chance to win the Monaco Grand Prix before a red flag on the opening lap altered the race dynamics. The Mercedes driver started fifth and finished in the same position after completing 77 of the 78 laps on the medium compound tyres he switched to during the suspension.
Russell, the highest-placed starter on hard tyres behind Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri, Carlos Sainz Jr., and Lando Norris, anticipated running a different strategy. The top four started on mediums and were expected to switch to hard tyres later in the race.
However, a significant crash at the back of the field led to a red flag, changing the race’s course. Sainz suffered a puncture and went off-track on the opening lap, promoting Russell to fourth. Due to the red flag timing, Sainz was allowed to restart from third.
During the suspension, all cars could change tyres, and the leaders switched to hard-tyres for the remainder of the race. While Russell had to switch to medium tyres that would degrade quicker.
“When we lined up on the grid the first time and we were on the hards and the four drives ahead were on the mediums, I was like, ‘this is perfect,’” Russell told the official F1 channel after the race.
“Then when Carlos had his puncture, I genuinely thought, ‘we’ve got a shot here’ – minimum for a podium. Potentially even victory – being on that different strategy. We were just going to play a bit of a team game to try and boost our chances. But as soon as that red flag came out, everything went out the window.”
Mercedes has had a challenging start to the 2024 season without a single podium finish. Despite this, Russell’s performance in the Monaco Grand Prix marked his and the team’s second top-five finish of the season. He expressed satisfaction with the team’s performance and the result.
“Seventy-odd laps on that medium, closing the gap on Ferrari and McLaren at the end, we can arguably say it was probably one of our best weekends,” he said.
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