George Russell has admitted he is in a “very weird state of mind” after his hopes of a maiden Formula 1 title suffered another major blow in Monaco.
A fifth successive victory for Russell’s Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli saw the gap between the pair extend to 68 points, as the former’s scoreless weekend also saw him drop behind Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton to third in the drivers’ standings.
After finishing second to Antonelli in the first race of the Italian’s streak in China, Russell has since failed to land a podium, coming fourth in Japan and Miami, retiring from the lead due to a technical failure in Canada, and then dropping out of the points in Monaco after a pair of unfortunate penalties.
While Russell has undoubtedly suffered some bad luck during the run, his confidence appears to have deteriorated during it, which was perhaps most apparent when the Brit qualified sixth in Monaco, almost four tenths off the pace of pole-sitter Antonelli.
Speaking to reporters after finishing 12th in Monaco, Russell said: “I still very much believe in myself 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.
Highlights from the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix.
“I am in a very, very weird state of mind because I’ve had very low moments in my career where maybe I’ve had a run of two or three bad races on my own personal performance, but I’ve never had a run of bad luck such as 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 is still a long way to go.
“I still very much believe in myself and that we’re going to be fighting for race wins until the end of the year, but right now, it is tough.”
George Russell and his partner Carmen Montero Mundt watch as Kim Kardashian and Lewis Hamilton arrive to great fanfare in the Monaco pitlane…
‘An incredibly difficult pill to swallow’
Russell was running fourth in the latter stages of the race in Monaco when his Mercedes botched his attempt to serve a contentious five-second penalty he had earlier been given for speeding in the pit lane.
When Russell came in under safety car conditions, his mechanics started changing his tyres before the five seconds had elapsed, earning Russell a far more severe drive-through penalty that he had to serve when the race resumed after an ensuing red flag, with the field bunched.
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.
That meant Russell painfully dropped to the rear of the field and out of the points.
“When I look at things objectively, when things are balanced out a little bit, I still think I’ll have been very close, and have at least two more victories,” Russell said.
“I know that 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 down in Canada, or the penalties [in Monaco], but it is completely outside of my control, and that is an incredibly difficult pill to swallow.
An unfortunate power unit failure for George Russell sees him out of the Canadian Grand Prix.
“I don’t believe in good or bad luck, but when I look 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.
“That’s not a lot, and the whole season could look totally different with 70 more points.”
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