George Russell believed that Williams Racing had found themselves in the mix during the opening laps of the 2019 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix – Shanghai International Circuit.
However, him and team-mate Robert Kubica fell back into familiar territory as they both ended up losing ground lap by lap, all the way to finishing sixteenth and seventeenth in Russell’s favour.
The 21-year old Brit was convinced by the choice of strategy despite a “fairly lonely race” from his perspective.
“The pace was slightly better than expected, we were battling in the opening couple of laps and we managed to stay with the pack,” Russell said.
“Once things settled down, the gaps started to open, and it was a fairly lonely race for me.
“We were struggling with the tyres in the middle stint of the race, and the laptimes were dropping off, so it was the right choice to pit for a second time.
“At the end of the day this is where we are at the moment, we must keep pushing and keep working.”
Russell had out-qualified Kubica for the third race in a row and qualified seventeenth, as Antonio Giovinazzi and Alexander Albon failed to set a time in Q1. Williams had closed the gap to just under a second to the nearest car in front, half a second better than last time out in Bahrain.
They will be hoping to narrow the gap down even more next time out in Baku, an engine-powered street circuit that should favour their car more than most tracks on the Formula 1 calendar.
