Russell undeterred by Monaco disaster: 'No reason why not' for Spanish Grand Prix success

A double DNF in Q2 for the German team at the Monaco Grand Prix saw Russell and his teammate Kimi Antonelli forced to start in P14 and P15, respectively.

Around the streets of the Principality, there was no chance of overtaking for either of them, with Russell hugely frustrated behind a slow Alex Albon, resulting in him cutting the Nuvelle Chincane to get past.

The 27-year-old received a drive-through penalty for that unorthodox move, meaning both he and Antonelli went away without a point to their name.

Coming into this weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, there is a lot of optimism after Mercedes finished P3 and P4 last year, and that gives Russell belief for a solid weekend this time around, despite a tough Grand Prix in Monte Carlo.

"I don’t see any reason why not," the 27-year-old started by saying when asked if the German team can repeat last year's results.

"As I said, up until Imola, we’ve been inside the top five every single quali and race. And, of course, Imola was a bad race, and then in Monaco things were slightly outside of our control. So I don’t see any reason why we wouldn’t be back in that fight for the top five, hopefully fighting for the podium," a positive Russell stated.

However, to try and get onto the top step of the podium might be a bit too much of a challege, especailly in a sweltering Barcelona.

"The only difference being here is we’re on the hardest compound of tyres, whereas in Imola and in Jeddah, where we struggled the most this season, it was on the softest compound of tyres. So that’s one more change," concluded Russell.