George Russell was left frustrated after qualifying for the 2025 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix as an electrical power unit fault in Q2 ended his chances of a top-four result.
The Mercedes driver made his way comfortably through Q1 to reach the second session of Monaco qualifying, before the electrica fault occurred.
Heading past the Casino section, Russell’s W16 gave way as he limped around the circuit before coming to a stop in the tunnel.
His team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli had crashed out of qualifying in Q1, making it a double Q2 elimination for the German squad.
After the session, Russell rued the missed chance, as he explained what he felt caused the issue that destroyed his Monaco qualifying session.
“Yeah, it [a bump] was definitely the cause, but it was a bump in the straight,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“It’s a bump that’s been there all weekend and a bump that I’ve felt all weekend, but for whatever reason, on this occasion, the whole engine switched off when I hit this bump.
“Really disappointing because we got ourselves a bit lost this weekend with the set-up and we went back to basics for quali.
“From lap one, I felt back in the game.
“Also, Kimi stayed with probably more the set-up he had in FP3; I went back to something that we knew.
“He was struggling and we were there – I really feel we would have been in the top four today – now, we’re not”.
Russell’s qualifying streak ends after power unit fault
The 27-year-old’s qualifying streak comes to an end around the streets of Monte Carlo, as Russell had yet to qualify outside of the top five.
He will now start the Grand Prix from 14th on the grid, as he now has it all to do to finish in the points on Sunday.
Reflecting on his qualifying session before the fault, Russell added: “It was clicking in Q1 and we were one of the few drivers not to take any new tyres.
“I did one corner in Q2 and I was already almost two tenths up and already had plenty enough to be into Q3 with two sets.
“We had the two Hard tyres, we had a real chance this weekend, but now it’s up in smokes and weekend over, so it’s pretty deflating.”
Russell was reminded of the fact that tomorrow’s race will be mandatory two-stop strategy, but even that doesn’t fill him with much hope.
“Well, for sure, there’s going to be some crazy strategies, but we qualified 14th,” he said.
“We probably should have been in the top five, so there’s ten cars between me and where we should have been.
“If people are doing crazy things with the strategy, half of those guys will go one way.
“The other half will go the other way.
“Therefore, whichever one we decide, we’re still stuck behind five drivers.”
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