George Russell was naturally delighted to take his maiden FIA European Formula 3 Championship victory at just his second attempt in race two at Silverstone on Saturday.
The seventeen-year-old Carlin driver got the jump on pole sitter Charles Leclerc at the start and was never out of control of the race from there on in, winning by just under two seconds at the flag.
“I made a great start and managed to hold on to the lead from there,” insisted Russell. “During the safety car restart I was also looking pretty good and able to pull quite a nice gap to Leclerc behind.
“It definitely gives me a confidence boost for this weekend and the rest of the season – we need to hold on to the momentum and make sure that we get more wins under our belt.”
Russell’s race one was quite possibly even more exciting, even if he could finish eighth after being spun around by Leclerc at the Vale just as the race got going properly after a safety car start.
The 2014 BRDC Formula 4 Champion fell down to eighteenth as a result, but was able to make some tremendous overtaking manoeuvres, including making up three places over the last two laps, passing Pietro Fittipaldi, Callum Ilott and Maximilian Gunther.