George Russell has admitted he is in a “very strange state of mind” after his hopes of a maiden Formula One title suffered another major blow in Monaco.
A fifth successive win for Russell’s Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli saw the gap between the pair widen to 68 points as the former’s pointless weekend also saw him drop behind Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton to third in the drivers’ standings.
After finishing second to Antonelli in the Italian’s first race in China, Russell has since failed to land a podium finish, finishing fourth in Japan and Miami, dropping out of the lead due to a technical fault in Canada, then dropping out of the points in Monaco after a pair of unlucky penalties.
While Russell has undoubtedly suffered mishaps during the race, his confidence appears to have eroded during it, which was perhaps most evident when the Briton qualified sixth in Monaco, nearly four-tenths off the pace of pole-sitter Antonelli.
Speaking to reporters after finishing 12th in Monaco, Russell said: “I still believe in myself a lot and know what I can do and we’re not even 30 per cent of the way through but there have been a lot of points down the drain.
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Highlights from the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix.
“I’m in a very, very strange state of mind because I’ve had very low moments in my career where I’ve had maybe two or three bad races on my own personal performance, but I’ve never had a crash like this.
“It didn’t happen when the car was P7 two years ago, or a P3 or P4 car last year, and now I’ve got the car, it feels very painful, but there’s still a long way to go.
“I still believe in myself a lot and that we will fight for wins until the end of the year, but right now it’s tough.”
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George Russell and his partner Carmen Montero Mundt look on as Kim Kardashian and Lewis Hamilton arrive to great fanfare in the Monaco pitlane…
‘An incredibly hard pill to swallow’
Russell was running fourth in the closing stages of the race in Monaco when his Mercedes failed in its attempt to serve a disputed five-second penalty he had previously received for speeding in the pit lane.
As Russell entered safety car conditions, his mechanics began changing his tires before five seconds had elapsed, giving Russell a far more severe drive-through penalty which he had to serve when the race restarted after a subsequent red flag, with the field bunched up.
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Mercedes driver George Russell qualified P6 for the Monaco Grand Prix but was left scratching his head over where the pace is in his car.
This meant that Russell fell painfully to the back of the field and out of the points.
“Looking at things objectively, when things balance out a little bit, I still think I’ll have been very close and have at least two more wins,” Russell said.
“I know qualifying was a bad day for me, I accept that, but the result of the last two races I wish I could take some responsibility for the car breaking in Canada, or the penalties. [in Monaco]but it’s completely out of my control and it’s an incredibly hard pill to swallow.
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An unfortunate power failure for George Russell causes him to leave the Canadian Grand Prix.
“I don’t believe in luck, but looking at the season as a whole, I was leading the race in Canada and broke down.
“I could have been on the podium [in Monaco]and zero points, I was leading in Japan and the safety car came out 10 seconds after a pit stop.
“It’s not much and the whole season could look completely different with 70 more points.”
Formula 1 heads straight to Spain for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix with live coverage on Sky Sports F1 from Friday. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime