George Russell has lashed out at rules introduced for the Monaco Grand Prix which he branded “flawed” after finishing 11th in the Principality.

The Mercedes driver said he took a “screw it” approach to the prospect of copping a penalty for skipping the Nouvelle Chicane to pass Alex Albon, who was  backing up the pack in favour of his Williams team-mate.

George Russell left frustrated after failed Monaco GP rule change

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Rules introduced for this year’s event mandated every driver used three sets of tyres during the course of the 78-lap grand prix.

In essence, without a red flag, it forced each driver into the pit lane on at least two occasions.

Typically, drivers must complete one stop in order to satisfy rules that state they must use two different compounds of tyre.

This year’s rule change was pushed through in an attempt to liven up what is traditionally a processional race, as emphasised in F1 2024 when an opening lap red flag saw the field change tyres under the stoppage.

However, the insistence on two stops brought with it some unusual outcomes, with the likes of Racing Bulls and Williams employing strategies across their cars to maximise their results.

That saw Liam Lawson slow in the opening phase of the race such that his team-mate, Isack Hadjar, was able to pit twice without dropping out of the points.

Later, Williams did the same thing, first with Carlos Sainz, who slowed the pack to allow Albon to complete his stops, with Albon then returning the favour.

Caught behind the Williams duo, Russell eventually had enough and skipped across the chicane at the harbour-front on Lap 48 reasoning even a time penalty for cutting the track and gaining an advantage would leave him in a better position than losing time behind Albon.

It was a point Russell made over the team radio shortly after the move, a comment which didn’t escape the attention of officials.

“It was clear from the radio message where he said that he would ‘take the penalty’ that the overtake was done deliberately as he felt that he was being held up by Car 23 driving erratically,” stewards’ noted in their report of the incident.

“Anticipating that situations such as this might happen at this Monaco Grand Prix, all the teams were informed before the race by the Race Director (at the Stewards request) that the stewards would look carefully at a deliberate leaving of the track at Turn 10 to overtake a car or a train of slow cars.

“That communication also made it clear that the guideline penalty of 10 seconds may be insufficient for this deliberate infringement and that the penalty applied may be a greater penalty than 10 seconds.

“We therefore considered that Car 63’s deliberate infringement warranted a drive through penalty and we so imposed.”

Russell was nonplussed by the decision, reasoning his race was effectively already over at that point anyway.

“I was a little bit surprised but I’ve got to be honest, I didn’t really care because I was out of the points,” Russell told the media, including PlanetF1.com, of receiving pit lane penalty instead of the time penalty he expected.

“I didn’t get the chance yesterday to enjoy Monaco and I just said ‘screw it, I want to enjoy Monaco. I want to enjoy driving this track full gas.’

“It’s one of the best circuits in the world, and that’s what I did; the last 25 laps was the most fun I’ve had all weekend.

“I was really pushing the limits, testing myself. Ironically, if I didn’t do this, I would have finished maybe 15th or 16th.”

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Russell’s weekend unravelled after his car suffered an apparent electrical issue during the opening moments of Qualifying 2.

It saw the Mercedes roll to a halt in the tunnel, ending his session before it had really begun as he was consigned to 14th on the grid – one spot ahead of team-mate Kimi Antonelli who’d crashed out at the end of Qualifying 1 despite banking a time good enough to progress to the sessions’ second segment.

In response, Mercedes had planned to have its drivers work together in an attempt to pull off a strategy akin to what Racing Bulls and Williams did, though from further back on the grid they ultimately found themselves caught as those ahead beat them to the punch.

“Ultimately, qualifying 14th and 15th, there is nothing you can do,” Russell conceded.

“You pit on Lap 1, we would have finished nowhere; you go along, you finish nowhere.

“Ironically, I finished in a higher position by doing my manoeuvre with Alex than I would have done if I hadn’t.

“That in itself proves the system’s pretty flawed.”

Designed to spice up the on-track action, instead the two-stop rule turned the race into a strategic nightmare for teams as those with multiple cars near one another, and near the points, employed tactics across both cars.

With overtaking neigh-on impossible around the narrow streets it meant such games were comparatively easy, leaving Russell to suggest the new rules failed to deliver.

“It didn’t work because it was too easy for drivers’ teams to work together to create the pit stop gap, invert the cars, the next driver create the pit stop gap and gives their teammate the free stop,” he reasoned.

“We had planned that ourselves with Kimi and I, because that was our only hope of getting some points.

“If everyone is driving flat out, as you do at any other race, and we implemented that strategy, we both would have finished in the points.

“But [Racing Bulls] did it, Williams did it, what can you do?”

Russell was ultimately classified 11th, two laps down on race winner Lando Norris, with Antonelli 18th and the last of those to see the chequered flag.

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