In the round-up: George Russell says that the Monaco Grand Prix “is not going to be pleasant” for Mercedes due to how stiff the car is over bumps
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In brief
Russell expects Monaco is “not going to be pleasant” to race
George Russell is braced for a punishing Monaco Grand Prix today.
Despite qualifying sixth on the grid for today’s Monaco Grand Prix, Russell anticipates an uncomfortable race for him and team mate Lewis Hamilton due to their car’s stiff ride problems.
“It’s not going to be pleasant to be honest,” said Russell. “FP1, when we didn’t have the car at its softest, was a real challenge for both Lewis and I. And it’s kind of tough, but you’ve got to sort of suck it up and get on with it. That’s all we can do.
“This was by far the hardest Monaco I’ve ever experienced – and I’ve been in one of the most challenging cars there was to drive in recent times. So I think it’s not been easy for everybody. I think it’s been a step worse compared to the previous era of cars.”
Q1 red flag did not appear on system, says Williams’ Robson
Williams’ head of vehicle performance Dave Robson says that the red flag called during Q1 did not originally show up on teams’ pit wall systems.
The first phase of qualifying was halted with just under two minutes of time remaining when Yuki Tsunoda hit the barrier on entry to the Nouvelle Chicane and punctured a tyre. But when race director Eduardo Freitas called for the red flag, Robson says, the teams did not receive a notification.
“Certainly that one at the end of Q1 surprised us a bit because it didn’t come up on the…