Russell 'bamboozled' by struggling form: 'Last three races I've been nowhere'

Russell had another day to forget at the Monaco Grand Prix. The British driver will start from sixth place, while his teammate and championship rival, Kimi Antonelli, snatched pole position from Max Verstappen on his final attempt.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the session, Russell was not satisfied. He explained: "If I knew, I would be able to not be in that position. The start of the year was just easy. Every lap I did in practice, qualifying, it was P1 - worst case P2 - every single session. Q1, Q2, Q3."

He continued with explaining that he doesn't understand his current situation: "Last three races it's just been nowhere. Even Canada was a real fight to get a decent lap and then I just nailed it at both of those sessions but that was sort of like pulling something special out of the hat and a little bit 'lucky' to do it at the right time. But that's just where I am right now. I don't really now."

Russell then addressed how his different driving style compared to his teammate influences the current situation. "There's definitely some things we've seen that the changes with this year's car, with my natural driving style doesn't suit it as last year's car did. Kimi and I have had different driving styles. I don't want to go into too much detail but it was clear last year and it's clear this year, but obviously last year it suited me just fine and this year it's suiting him perfectly well. So either I need to adjust to this and I'll do my best to do that, but it still doesn't answer why the start of the year was such a breeze. I don't know. A bit bamboozled right now," he concluded.

The Briton faces a difficult task in Monaco. With Antonelli starting from pole position, he will have his work cut out to salvage points in the title battle against his teammate. Heading into the race, the gap between the two Mercedes drivers stands at 43 points in the standings.