George Russell struggled to hide his annoyance at losing out on a first Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix podium after an error in the wet conditions. With the race affected by a rain shower partway into the event, several drivers took the opportunity to make well-timed switches to Intermediate tyres. The Mercedes driver had stayed out on a long first stint on the Hard tyres, and had moved up several places when nearby competitors had made their slick tyre pit stops. When the rain struck, Russell switched to the Intermediate tyres to run in third place, but a mistake at the Mirabeau corner resulted in a loss of positions. Esteban Ocon recovered third place, and Russell eventually finished behind teammate Lewis Hamilton in P5 and handed a five-second time penalty for colliding with Red Bull's Sergio Perez when returning to the track.
Speaking after the race, Russell saw the incident as a 'lesson learned' after losing what he thought would be a "comfortable" third place. "It was an exceptionally boring race until the rain came down, it sort of came out of nowhere as it wasn't really on the forecast," Russell told media, including RacingNews365.com . "I'm really kicking myself because P3 was almost guaranteed after not pitting [in dry conditions]. "I came out, there was a yellow flag, I backed off, and as soon as I touched the brakes, I locked up and followed Stroll up the escape road. "That's probably a lesson that when you're not on it, and you're not focused, you make the mistakes. "Probably if there wasn't a yellow flag there, I would have just been focusing more and I wouldn't have gone off and cost the team a comfortable P3. "I definitely damaged the car a bit. I wasn't sure that it was going to be able to continue, but it kind of sorted itself out as the lap progressed."
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