Russell jokes Albon will ‘get the dinner bill’ after Monaco GP battle and penalty

George Russell was left to ponder what might have been after a frustrating weekend in Monaco, with his early Qualifying exit followed up by a race spent stuck behind Williams pair Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon.

Russell dropped out in the Q2 phase during Qualifying when his car lost power and ground to a halt, adding to an already challenging session for Mercedes given that Kimi Antonelli had suffered a Q1 crash.

Lining up in 14th and 15th respectively, Russell and Antonelli had hoped to work their way towards the points-paying positions, with the new mandatory two pit stop rule in play, but Sainz and Albon scuppered those plans.

‘It was never the plan’ – Russell explains his race after being hit with a drive-through penalty in Monaco

Initially stuck to the rear of Sainz’s car, and later Albon’s, Russell grew so frustrated with the situation that he cleared the Thai-British driver by skipping over the Nouvelle Chicane and refusing to give back the position.

The stewards duly handed Russell – who told his engineer that he would rather be penalised – a drive-through for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, and he ultimately crossed the line just outside the points in 11th.

Asked if those were among the most frustrating laps he had ever spent in an F1 car, Russell replied: “Yeah! But we knew that was probably going to be the case. We’d planned it ourselves, to do it with Kimi and I, to back the pack, I would pit, he would back the pack, then we’d swap and I’d do the same for him.

“But [Racing Bulls] did it, Williams did it. We pit on Lap 1, we finish outside the points, we go long, we finish outside the points. At one point I just said, ‘Screw it!’ I want to enjoy Monaco… I didn’t get the chance in Qualifying yesterday.

2025 Monaco Grand Prix: Russell deliberately takes a penalty after passing Albon off track

“I got 25 laps driving qualifying laps every lap and I enjoyed that at least. Ironically, I finished in a higher position by taking the drive-through penalty than I would have if I didn’t. Unfortunately, the system’s flawed.”

Asked about taking a penalty being the plan, he stated: “It wasn’t the plan. The plan was to try and overtake. The team said to us on Thursday, they think you need… anything less than three seconds [of] advantage [on the car ahead] is a 0% chance of an overtake, a four-and-a-half second advantage is a 50% chance.

“Carlos and Alex aren’t stupid, they positioned the car comfortably to defend. It was a bit dangerous at points, the way he [Albon] was braking. It was never the plan to cut the corner like that, but as I said, I didn’t want to spend 77 laps in someone’s gearbox, also risking myself, drivers braking on the straight and playing the team game.”

With plenty of the F1 drivers calling Monaco home, Russell then signed off with a smile: “I’m having dinner with Alex tonight, so he’s going to get the bill!”