ROKiT Williams Racing were relatively happy with the result and car pace from the 2019 Mexican Grand Prix.
George Russell finished sixteenth with Robert Kubica in eighteenth but had a great battle in the early stages of the race.
Kubica had very good pace and was able to match Russell throughout the Grand Prix. The Pole suffered a puncture on lap 60, forcing him to pit for a second time.
“The feeling in the car was much better than yesterday [qualifying]. I managed to make good decisions in the battles, there was a lot going on and I gained a couple of positions at the start,” said Kubica.
“George managed to get in front of me as I had a long pitstop, but then I managed to overtake him. It was unfortunate that I had to stop for the second time because of a slow puncture.”
Russell thought he could have finished higher, with the FW42 now able to match the pace of the Haas. Last year’s Formula 2 champion was happy with the speed of the car, especially towards the end of the Grand Prix.
The 21-year-old said: “I made a great start and through turns one, two, and three I was in the right place at the right time and gained a load of positions.
“For turns four, five, and six though I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and lost them all. I spent most of the race right behind Robert, but I think he had a problem near the end and had to do an additional pitstop.
“In the final 10 laps I was in clear air and the pace was extremely strong, so if I’d managed to hold onto those positions after the first few corners then I could have maintained them. A bit of a missed opportunity and we should have finished higher.“
Senior Race Engineer, Dave Robson, praised the team’s execution of the Mexican Grand Prix: “This[the slow puncture] was a great shame for Robert as he had strong pace and demonstrated some excellent race craft.
“We raced well today and made the most of the car that we had. We will, of course, review each decision that we made and determine if we could’ve made a better choice, but overall, we did a sound job of managing the car in the challenging conditions of Mexico.“
