‘I thought the plan was medium’: Russell rues tyre mix‑up after Monza qualifying
George Russell left qualifying at Monza wearing the expression of a man who’d just found the sweet spot, then been told he couldn’t use it. The Mercedes driver was electric on the medium Pirellis in Q1 — quickest of the lot — and fully expected to strap them back on for the pole fight. Instead, he rolled out in Q3 on softs, queried it on the radio, and then had to make the best of a plan he thought wasn’t the plan.
He ended up sixth on the timesheets, 0.365s off Max Verstappen’s new lap record pole of 1:18.792, and will start fifth thanks to Lewis Hamilton’s five-place grid drop for a yellow-flag infringement at Zandvoort.
This wasn’t a finger‑pointing kind of evening. Russell took as much blame as anyone for the crossed wires that left him on the red-walled tyre he didn’t want when it mattered most.
“It was just a miscommunication, to be honest,” he said. “I thought the plan was medium, but the plan was soft. I didn’t make it clear enough.”
There was logic to his preference. Monza can be a strange beast in qualifying trim: softs promise peak grip, but they can skate if you miss the window by a fraction. Russell and team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli tried something different early, running the mediums in Q1. It worked a treat for Russell, who topped the segment and felt immediately at home with the car’s balance.
From there, the afternoon diverged. Mercedes switched to softs and never saw the textbook step the teams bank on through the sessions. Russell admitted his own execution wasn’t clean in Q3 either, but the numbers told a story he didn’t love: he only found a tenth and a half from his Q1 banker on mediums to his best Q3 lap on softs. On this track, with fuel burning down and the rubber fresh, you’d typically expect half a second or more.
“I felt much more comfortable on the medium,” he said. “I didn’t really do good laps in Q3… you’d think there was more to come. But anyway, P5 is probably a fair place to start.”
The margins were merciless. Seven tenths covered all 10 drivers in the final segment, Verstappen stamping a new mark on the Temple of Speed while the rest piled up behind in a queue of thousandths. For Russell, the opportunity was right there: a Mercedes that liked the medium, a driver who trusted it, and a Q3 that could’ve tilted on tyre choice. In the end, the call went the other way.
Crucially, there’s no lingering heat on the pit wall. Russell said he told the team the medium “felt great” after Q1, repeated that he wanted to “consider it for Q3,” then asked in the garage if they were sticking with “the plan” and heard “yes.” He assumed that meant mediums. The team’s plan was softs. Two definitions, one word, a very Monza‑sized headache.
If there’s a silver lining, it’s where he’ll actually launch from. Fifth keeps him in the fight down to Turn 1, and with lower degradation typically defining the Italian Grand Prix, having confidence on the medium could pay him back on Sunday. Antonelli’s early run on the same tyre hints at a Mercedes that’s found a sensible operating window on the yellow-walled compound — helpful if the race becomes a one‑stop where rhythm matters more than raw peak.
There’s also the broader read: this is a Mercedes that’s willing to experiment on a weekend where others played it safe. The medium gamble was bold; the pace on it was real. If the team cleans up the communication loop and Russell threads a tidier lap when it counts, the ceiling looks higher than the result suggests.
All of which is little comfort on Saturday night, granted. At Monza, qualifying is still king, and Russell wanted one more swing on the tyre that felt right in his hands. Instead, he walks away with a car that looked quick, a small slice of frustration about timing and tyres, and a decent grid slot from which to make amends. In a field this tight, that might be enough.
