25/05/2025 09:30
George Russell has explained how he anticipates the novel two-stop
Monaco Grand Prix to shake out, but believes he is "stuck" either
way. Outlining the two competing strategies he predicts will be
employed by teams around the streets of the principality, the
three-time grand prix winner maintains there will not be "any
revelations", as he told Sky Sports F1 after qualifying. The
British driver will start a lowly P14 at the Circuit de Monaco
after his Mercedes lost power after hitting a bump in Q2, leaving
him with a daunting task in the famed race. With the round in Monte
Carlo obligating each driver to pit at least twice, it is widely
expected there will be some unusual pit stop strategies. His
team-mate, Kimi Antonelli, and team principal, Toto Wolff both
teased the potential for the Brackley-based squad to try something
"crazy" , but Russell feels he is damned if he does and damned if
he doesn't. "Well, for sure, there's going to be some crazy
strategies," the 27-year-old told media, including RacingNews365 .
"But we qualified 14th, we probably should have been in the top
five. "So there are 10 cars between me and where we should have
been. And if people are doing crazy things with the strategy, half
of those guys will go one way, the other half will go the other
way. "Therefore, we're stuck behind... whichever we decide, we're
still stuck behind five drivers." Going one of two ways Whilst
laying out the options available to teams, Russell also highlighted
the one saving grace afforded to him, albeit unrelated to him
starting so far down the order. "You're going to see one of two
things," the Mercedes driver stated. "People pitting on lap one, or
people going really long into the race. "We do have a small
advantage with the two hard tyres, but if you can't pass there's
not much you can do." When asked whether he would opt to start on
soft or hard Pirellis, Russell refused to be drawn in, claiming the
team will decide once it sees what others are doing.
