Weekend not as favorites
This time, Mercedes has to chase. The team that has dominated the start of this season, winning all GPs contested so far in 2026, struggled on Friday in Monaco. The winding streets of the Principality and the limited opportunity to exploit the power unit’s potential seem to have greatly restricted the W17’s strength. In FP2, George Russell recorded the fourth-best time and Andrea Kimi Antonelli the fifth, with the World Championship leader even taking half a second from Lewis Hamilton. Both drivers, speaking to journalists, emphasized that this will be an uphill weekend for the Silver Arrows.
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The words of Russell and Antonelli
“We made good improvements between FP1 and FP2 – commented George Russell – but if we want to fight for pole and victory, we will have to make a similar step forward between now and tonight. It certainly promises to be the most challenging weekend of our season so far, and more difficult than we had hoped. At the start of today, we expected Ferrari to be ahead, as they have always been strong here. Historically, their cars, particularly from a mechanical perspective, seem to adapt well to this type of track. That was the case today, but it was surprising to see Red Bull so competitive as well. We have some work to do to get back into the mix; however, we have some ideas on where we can improve and we know there is still room to improve the lap time. If we execute perfectly and commit 100%, we hope we can do it.”.
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“It wasn’t the easiest Friday of the season – Antonelli echoed – I struggled with the car, particularly in the middle sector, and this limited our pace. We tried many different setup options and collected a lot of useful data. This will help us evaluate the work to be done overnight and the changes to be made for FP3 and qualifying. Ferrari seems to be in a very strong position. We know they are usually competitive in Monaco and they certainly look like the favorites for tomorrow. However, we know there is still time to improve, as we haven’t yet found the perfect balance point for the car, so we hope we can take a step forward and be in contention tomorrow“.
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