Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has claimed that George Russell missed out on pole position for the Italian Grand Prix because he "got done over" by Max Verstappen during the closing stages of qualifying at Monza. Russell appeared to be on course to live up to his status as pole favourite, but his final flying lap was compromised by Red Bull's Verstappen slowing down in front of him and his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli. Mercedes had placed championship leader Antonelli on track in front of Russell to give the Brit a tow, due to the fact the Italian is serving penalties for exceeding his engine-part allowance for the season and was going to start the race from the back of the grid regardless of his qualifying position.
Russell still improved his time to go fastest but then had pole remarkably snatched away from him by Alpine's Pierre Gasly, who pulled off one of the biggest qualifying shocks in the sport's history. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Asked by Sky Sports F1 whether something had gone wrong for Russell to miss out on pole, Wolff said: "Yeah, I think at the end where he got done over by Max in the final run when launching the lap. "It was just much too close, and that compromised the lap time eventually and that lost pole position." With having a tow from the car in front being crucial to delivering a fast lap at Monza, Verstappen sought to force another car in front after having lost touch with the McLarens ahead of him.
As Verstappen slowed down ahead of the final corner, Antonelli passed the Red Bull, while Russell remained just behind them. While a tow is useful, being too close to the car in front for the entire lap can also have a negative impact on performance, which Russell felt was the case. "We had a bit of a mess with Verstappen entering the lap," Russell said.
"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. Asked whether Mercedes could have done anything differently to avoid the situation, Russell replied: "I think, no, 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 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 we wanted to give it everything." Despite his frustration at missing out on pole, Russell remains in with a strong chance of reducing his 59-point deficit to Antonelli at the top of the standings. He told Sky Sports F1: "I'm feeling good. I think the key is just to have a clean start, a clean first lap.
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