Russell left to rue mistake that cost him “almost guaranteed” third in Monaco
Russell went long in the first stint of the race, making his only pit stop of the afternoon when the rain fell.
This allowed Russell to jump a number of his rivals, including Esteban Ocon and Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.
However, his good work was undone when he ran wide at Mirabeau.
Not only did he lose crucial time, when rejoining, he did so unsafely, picking up a five-second time penalty in the process.
Speaking after the race, Russell told Sky: “P3 was definitely achievable today. I’ve only learnt my mistake wasn’t shown on TV – I was comfortably ahead of Lewis and Ocon because I hadn’t pitted on the slick.
"I went straight from the hard to the intermediate so came out in P5 behind the Ferraris who were on slicks so we were effectively P3 on the road.”
Russell blamed not being “fully focused” for his costly error.
“There were yellow flags so I backed off and when I touched the brake I just locked up and followed the yellow flag.
“That was a lesson to me that sometimes when you’re not fully on it and fully focused that’s when mistakes happen.
"Really disappointed because if that mistake didn’t happen P3 was almost guaranteed.”
