George Russell 'proud of Williams'

George Russell did not get off to the best possible start when he arrived in F1. The reigning champion of the F2 saw his new team Williams in difficulty since the FW42 was only able to take to the track on Wednesday afternoon after missing the first two days of testing.

The rookie remains admiring of the work accomplished by the Grove team who did everything possible to minimize his delay.

“It was annoying having to watch everyone on the track because you want to be able to ride as much as possible when you're a driver, confided George Russell. But I realized the work done by all the staff who worked on this car. It was not frustrating because I am aware that we did not choose this situation. »

“It pissed everyone off and they worked tirelessly to get it ready. It was refreshing for me and made me proud of Williams. They were up at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday to work all night to get the car ready. It is a privilege to evolve within this team. »

George Russell was the least present on the track 40 open laps, 8 less than his teammate Robert Kubica. The FW42 completed a total of 409km, far from the 2839km completed by the Mercedes W10.

“I was able to get a good feeling behind the wheel, the car seemed balanced. But we can't yet take stock because I haven't explored the car's limits, specified George Russell. It'll be hard to know where we are until we push the car hard. We still need to optimize all areas because everything was done at the last minute. We will have to continue to work hard this weekend in order to be ready next Tuesday and rack up the kilometers. »

Discover the analysis of the first week of F1 winter testing carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2205 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.