George Russell rues Mercedes ‘miscommunication’ after Italian GP radio surprise

George Russell found a friend in medium tyres during Italian Grand Prix qualifying, but did not get his wish of using the yellow-walled compound during Q3.

Instead sent out once more on the soft Pirelli tyres, Russell expressed his surprise over team radio, and has since admitted that he did not make his wish to use mediums clear enough. Having thought “the plan” meant mediums, Russell admitted there had been a “miscommunication” between himself and Mercedes.

George Russell and Mercedes involved in Italian GP mix-up

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Russell and team-mate Kimi Antonelli went down an alternate path during the opening segment of qualifying by using the medium rubber. It was enough to bag Russell top spot in Q1.

But, the move to softs did not trigger the usual margin of improvement. As such, Russell wanted to be back on medium tyres for Q3 and the battle for pole. He was given softs.

“We’ve the softs on, is that right,” Russell queried over team radio, before adding: “I wanted mediums.”

Speaking to PlanetF1.com and other media outlets after qualifying sixth, Russell explained that he and Mercedes got their wires crossed.

Russell is promoted one place to fifth on the grid, due to Lewis Hamilton’s five-place grid penalty for a Dutch GP yellow flag infringement.

“I was quickest in Q1 with the medium. We were one of the only teams with two mediums,” said Russell.

“So it was just a miscommunication, to be honest, with me and the team. So they’re not really to blame. It’s probably I’m as much to blame that I didn’t make it clear.

“I just thought, with the lap time I showed, I just presumed. I said after Q1 the medium feels great. We should consider it for Q3 and then I said, in the middle of Q2 after my first lap, I’d like to run the medium in Q3 and then I said, in the garage, are we sticking with the plan? And they said, yes.

“I thought the plan was medium, but the plan was soft. So that’s why it was a surprise.

“As I said, I’m as much to blame. We should have discussed it probably more.”

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In a Q3 session where seven tenths covered all 10 combatants, Russell finished 0.365s off the pace of polesitter Max Verstappen, who delivered a new Monza lap record of a 1:18.792.

Asked what he thought was possible had he got the mediums he desired, Russell replied: “I don’t know, to be honest.

“The gap was obviously pretty large in the end, but I just felt much more comfortable with the medium tyre.

“I didn’t really do good laps in Q3. I only improved one and a half tenths from Q1 on the medium to my fastest lap in Q3. You normally talk normal improvement of probably five or six tenths, and bearing in mind, the lap in Q1, I’ve done two laps on this tyre.

“So you just look at those numbers, you would think substantially faster than what I did achieve. But anyway, P5 is probably a deserving position. We qualified sixth, we’re starting fifth.”

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