Mercedes: Monaco was "a big disappointment for the team"
Following a tough race for the eight-time team champion team, Mercedes' trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin conceded that the Brackley-based squad struggled with car balance over the entire Monaco Grand Prix weekend.
On the back of an impressive start to the 2025 F1 season, Mercedes endured a tough weekend at the Monaco Grand Prix. Andrea Kimi Antonelli made a mistake in qualifying, touching the guardrails at the harbour which sent his Mercedes into the walls.
His team-mate George Russell looked in fine form in qualifying after his struggles across the practice sessions, but a technical issue saw him end up 14th on the grid.
From these lowly starting positions, Mercedes were always going to endure a tough time on the twisty and narrow streets of the Principality, but the introduction of the mandatory two-stop strategy and the tactical games saw Russell and Antonelli lose any chances of scoring points on Sunday.
The Briton was even handed a drive-through penalty for cutting the track and gaining a lasting advantage, but with Antonelli holding up their direct rivals, Russell was able to complete the penalty and the two mandatory stop without losing any position.
Ultimately, the Briton finished the Monaco race in P11 while the Bologna-born driver completed his first F1 appearance in the Principality in P18.
Mercedes' trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin conceded that the Brackley-based squad struggled with car balance over the entire Monaco Grand Prix weekend.
Sunday was "a big disappointment for the team. However, starting so far down the grid, we did not expect any other outcome from this race. Our strategy here was relying on potential red flags and incidents which, in the end, never occurred.
"From Free Practice to Qualifying, we struggled with the car balance, the tyres and it made difficult for the drivers to build their confidence and to find the pace for better timed laps on Saturday.
"We were not good enough yesterday and that really sealed the fate of our weekend. All we can do is dust ourselves down and come back stronger next weekend. We leave Monaco with a lot of things to work on and many improvements to make.
"We will be working flat out in the next few days to offer a better level of performance in Barcelona and get back to fighting for the podium."
