Russell blames Verstappen over failed Pole Position at Monza: 'He just slammed on the brakes'
Photo: Race Pictures
18:10, 05 Sep
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Henry Eccles is a freelance Formula 1 journalist for GPblog, covering breaking news, live race blogs, and features across the F1 calendar. Since joining in 2026, he has produced high-volume reporting on the sport’s biggest stories, alongside feature pieces including analysis and historical content.
George Russell has pointed the finger at Max Verstappen after just missing out on Pole Position for the Italian GP, with the Mercedes driver finishing in P2 just 0.060s behind shock pole-sitter, Alpine's Pierre Gasly.
With all eyes on Russell this weekend, as his Mercedes teammate and championship rival Kimi Antonelli is set to take a back-of-the-grid penalty over his power unit allowance, the Briton will be disappointed to lose out to the Alpine driver, but has pointed out a Q3 "mess" involving Verstappen.
The Dutchman could not rely on his teammate for an all-important tow at Monza, with Liam Lawson failing to emerge from Q2. As Russell explains, the Dutchman thus tried to get behind Antonelli during Q3.
Reflecting on where he lost the time to Gasly, Russell replied: "Yeah, I mean it was a very scrappy session. The car didn't feel quite as good with the car as it did in FP3. I was struggling with locking up, and then come Q3 we had a bit of a mess with Verstappen, entering the lap. He wanted to go for the tow, Kimi was there as well and I did my lap a second and a half behind Max, which wasn't ideal."
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Russell: Verstappen slammed on the brakes
Photo: Race Pictures
Further explaining what had happened in the final runs during Q3, Russell added: "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. So it's just one of those things, you know, 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 in hindsight, probably would have been better off not trying this. But, you know, we wanted to give it everything and nevertheless, you know, P2 is a good, good place, we're ahead of our rivals and, still with a great shot to fight for the win."
Russell was nonetheless congratulatory over Gasly's historic Pole Position - the first driver from the Enstone team to secure Pole since Fernando Alonso in 2009. Russell said: "It takes nothing away from what Pierre achieved because, as he said, they were flying all day, quickest in Q1 and right up there from the beginning.
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"So, yeah, I'm happy for Pierre and of course disappointed we weren't on pole ourselves, however, great place to start for tomorrow."
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Italian Grand Prix
Overview
Friday 04.09.26
Practice 1
10:30 AM
Practice 2
02:00 PM
Saturday 05.09.26
Practice 3
10:30 AM
Qualification
02:00 PM
Sunday 06.09.26
Race
01:00 PM
Friday 04.09.26
Practice 1
Fri 10:30 AM
Practice 2
Fri 02:00 PM
Saturday 05.09.26
Practice 3
Sat 10:30 AM
Qualification
Sat 02:00 PM
Sunday 06.09.26
Race
Sun 01:00 PM
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F1-stand 2026
Season
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | MercedesMER | 242 | |
2 | MercedesMER | 183 | |
3 | FerrariFER | 183 | |
4 | McLarenMCL | 159 | |
5 | FerrariFER | 155 | |
6 | Red Bull RacingRBR | 112 | |
7 | McLarenMCL | 106 | |
8 | Red Bull RacingRBR | 71 | |
9 | Racing BullsRCB | 51 | |
10 | AlpineALP | 35 |
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