As the FIA Formula one World Championship moves away from Portugal and arrives at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, Williams Racing will be hoping for a repeat of last Saturday, but not of last Sunday.
The Portuguese Grand Prix was a very mixed one for Williams and for George Russell, the British driver had his best qualifying for Williams but then one of his worst races. Russell will be hoping for a much more positive weekend in Barcelona, where he hopes to take some of what was learnt last weekend.
“I have very mixed feelings from our weekend in Portugal. There were lots of positives to takeaway, but equally lots of lessons to learn from the performance on Sunday. We know the strengths and weaknesses of the car so hopefully we can work on that over the course of this week.” Said Russell.
“I’m looking forward to returning to Barcelona; the first two sectors are fast and flowing, which makes them great to drive. When you arrive at the final sector it’s quite slow and it does not offer any overtaking opportunities which can definitely hurt, but it will also be interesting to see how the change to Turn 10 impacts the driving and the racing.“
“I’m ready to reset” – Latifi
For Williams other driver Nicholas Latifi it was also a very challenging weekend in Portugal, despite a brilliant qualifying. Like teammate Russell, Latifi struggled for any pace during the race so is hoping to right some wrongs this Sunday.
“I’m looking forward to going again, especially after a tough weekend out in Portugal. I’m ready to reset and get stuck into the next race. I think Barcelona normally has more stable weather conditions than those we experienced in Portugal, so hopefully that will translate into better performance. On a personal side, I do want to try and understand what went wrong last weekend so we can rectify that and hit the ground running in Barcelona.”
“I’m very keen to get back in the car” – Nissany
There will also be a different face in the Williams this weekend, as Williams test driver Roy Nissany, will be replacing Russell in Free Practice One this weekend, as he looks to further his development in an F1 car with his first free practice this year.
“I’m very keen to get back in the car. Barcelona was my first FP1 session last year and we have made a lot of progress since then, so I’m looking forward to demonstrating that on track. It feels great to experience the steps of development each time I jump in the car.”
