Russell: I hope Monaco will be a turning point

George Russell set the fifth fastest time in qualifying for Monaco and has more reason to feel good about himself than Lewis Hamilton, who cannot answer the question of why his car has no speed.

George Russel (5th): “A pretty decent result, but as I was only a few hundredths behind third position, it is honestly frustrating as we were so close to the second row.

But the team is making progress and working intensively on technical innovations, including those installed on the W15 this weekend, which are showing excellent results. I hope the Monaco stage will be a turning point for us in the season, because previously we didn’t think this track was suitable for our car.

Although the car was swaying a lot in the first sector, I am satisfied with the way I drove my lap, that attempt was quite successful, although there is always room for improvement. But you know, when you complete a lap on this track, you experience such an adrenaline rush that it can’t be put into words. And although I only showed the fifth result, the most important thing is that we are making progress.

In recent years racing in Monaco has been quite chaotic and I’m not sure if we should expect rain, but that could also spice things up a bit. Of course we will try to fight for the best possible result tomorrow.”

Lewis Hamilton (7th): “Everything went well yesterday because we put a lot of effort into improving the car, and at the start of the weekend it made a very good impression. We didn’t have to make any drastic changes to the settings.

The team is working hard at the base in Brackley and in the last two races we have introduced technical innovations, but we have also prepared something for this weekend, but only one example, which is installed on George’s car.

I foresaw that it wouldn’t be easy to beat my teammate in qualifying because his car has an improved front wing, although overall it’s nice that we keep improving the W15.

But when qualifying started I didn’t understand what was happening with the car. I had the feeling that I would lose a few tenths to my partner, and this was of course frustrating. I don’t have an answer to why this is happening, because my approach to driving hasn’t changed, but for some reason we’re lacking pace.”