Russell’s Monaco Grand Prix weekend has gotten off to a troubled start, and the W17 hasn’t even hit the track yet.
The Mercedes driver arrives at Monte Carlo already under pressure, sitting 43 points behind teenage team-mate Kimi Antonelli in the championship standings.
Russell’s points deficit stems from a painful retirement in Canada, where he was forced to abandon the race from the lead on lap 30 due to reliability issues with his W17.
The 28-year-old had won the Saturday sprint at the Canadian GP, but any momentum from that result evaporated entirely when his race ended prematurely in frustrating circumstances.
Now in Monaco, Russell has already found himself stranded by the side of the road, though this time the culprit was not his Mercedes Formula 1 car.
The British driver was photographed and filmed having to manually push his dark blue Fiat 500 Jolly beach car through the streets of the principality before the weekend’s action got underway.
Girlfriend Carmen Mundt was alongside Russell to help push the vehicle, with the clip subsequently making its way onto social media to the amusement of many fans.
The Fiat 500 Jolly is a model similar to the one that fellow F1 driver Lando Norris is frequently seen driving around Monaco’s famous streets.
Many Formula 1 drivers are residents of Monaco, and Russell is among them, which explains why he was using the small beach car to travel to the circuit ahead of Thursday’s media day.
With his title battle against Antonelli growing increasingly critical, Russell will be desperate to avoid any repeat mechanical misfortune when it truly matters this weekend.
A strong points haul at Monaco would go a long way toward restoring momentum in his championship campaign and demonstrating his credentials to the Mercedes hierarchy.
The Monaco Grand Prix returns to a standard race weekend format in 2026, with two practice sessions on Friday, a third session followed by qualifying on Saturday, and the race itself getting underway at 3pm local time on Sunday.