George Russell missed pole position at Monza by six hundredths of a second, and he knows exactly who he blames for it. Not himself, not Mercedes’ strategy, but Max Verstappen, who the Briton says slammed on the brakes on the run to Parabolica and turned a carefully planned tow into a shambles.
This is a different headache to the one Verstappen was moaning about after final practice, where he blamed a rear axle issue for ruining his session. This one happened in the middle of Q3 itself, with three cars bunched up at 300kph and a pole position on the line.
The tow that never was
The plan was simple enough. With Kimi Antonelli already facing a grid penalty for a power unit change, and therefore with nothing to lose, Mercedes had him run just ahead of Russell in the final Q3 sequence to give his team-mate a slipstream down Monza’s long straights. At a circuit where drag reduction and tow management can be worth more than any set-up tweak, it is about as close to a free lap time as teams get.
It worked perfectly on the first run. On the second, the one that actually mattered, it fell apart. Verstappen was leading the train out of the pits, with Antonelli and Russell tucked in behind, and as the cars approached the final corner before the start line, the Red Bull driver eased right off the throttle.
Antonelli drew level, only for Verstappen to move back across and force him to back out of it. Antonelli abandoned the lap altogether. Russell, close behind, found himself with nowhere to go and a Red Bull his only useful reference point for the rest of the lap.
“We had a bit of a mess with Verstappen entering the lap. Everything was all looking fine but then going into Parabolica, Max just slammed on the brakes and he didn’t want to be the lead car.” – George Russell
Russell was careful to note he cannot control what rivals do on track, but the frustration was obvious. He ended up completing his lap a second and a half behind Verstappen, which by his own admission “wasn’t ideal” when the gap to pole turned out to be 0.06 seconds.
“It’s just one of those things, you can’t control what other people do. Kimi was there to give me the slipstream, which he did perfectly on the first run. But obviously with Max, I think it also made it difficult for Kimi to know what to do as well. So it was just a little bit unfortunate.” – George Russell
Told the media, as reported by Motorsport.com, Russell also reflected that Mercedes might have been better off not attempting the tow tactic at all given how it played out.
Wolff doesn’t buy the innocent act
If Russell was diplomatic about it, Toto Wolff was not. The Mercedes boss told Sky Germany that Verstappen knew precisely what he was doing.
“Max, of course, did it very cleverly, he made everyone bunch up before the last corner. That meant Kimi was too close for a good slipstream for George, and George then spent the whole lap within two seconds of Max. Especially in the Parabolica, he lost out because he was simply hanging on Max’s gearbox.” – Toto Wolff
Wolff’s version leaves little room for Verstappen’s explanation that engine trouble, not tactics, was behind the slow approach to the corner. Asked directly whether he was trying to force Antonelli past him, Verstappen admitted the timing was suspicious but pointed to a mechanical gremlin instead.
“Yeah, but I was also trying to accelerate and then the engine cut out. I had so many things going on, it’s super complicated.” – Max Verstappen
Whether that is the full story or a convenient cover, nobody outside Red Bull’s garage can say for certain.
Gasly cashes in while Mercedes squabbles over blame
While Russell and Wolff traded theories about who cost them what, Pierre Gasly simply got on with taking a stunning maiden pole for Alpine, 0.06 seconds clear of Russell’s Mercedes. It is the kind of result that makes any post-session inquest feel slightly beside the point, and Russell was gracious enough to admit as much, saying it took nothing away from what the Frenchman had achieved.
Verstappen’s own lap left him down in sixth, though he will start the race one place higher after Oscar Piastri’s grid penalty for impeding Liam Lawson in the same session. Not a bad consolation prize for a lap that, by his own account, was compromised by engine problems, and by Wolff’s account, was compromised by nothing but his own cunning.
Grid Positions Following the Incident
| Pos | Driver | Team | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | Pole |
| 2 | George Russell | Mercedes | +0.060s |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing | Promoted to P5 after Piastri penalty |
The full grid carries other penalties too, with Antonelli’s power unit change and further sanctions applied elsewhere on the order, but the headline fight for the front row came down to that one tangled sequence through Parabolica.
A pattern nobody at Mercedes is thrilled about
This is not the first time this weekend that Verstappen has found himself at the centre of a Monza flashpoint. His FP3 near-miss with Lewis Hamilton and his own complaints about a failing rear axle already had the paddock talking before qualifying even began. Now Mercedes believes he has cost them a genuine shot at pole through what Wolff plainly views as calculated gamesmanship rather than misfortune.
Verstappen’s explanation may well hold some truth, engines do cut out, tyres do go cold in odd ways at Monza. But when the same driver ends up at the heart of two separate controversies inside a single race weekend, patience for the mechanical excuses tends to run thin. Russell starts Sunday’s race from the front row regardless, with the Italian Grand Prix due to get underway at 13:00 UTC, check the calendar for your local time, and a genuine chance to chip away at his championship deficit if he can keep his Mercedes ahead of the chaos rather than caught up in it again.
