George Russell’s points scoring form failed to continue at the Turkish Grand Prix, after the British driver crossed the line in fifteenth with team-mate Nicholas Latifi finishing in seventeenth place at the wet Intercity Istanbul Park Circuit.
It was a challenging grand prix for Williams Racing which they will be glad to see the back of, both drivers failed to make any significant progress during the grand prix. Russell in fact dropped places in the opening laps, after being caught out by Fernando Alonso spinning ahead and after fighting Esteban Ocon. The Alpine F1 Team were not Russell’s friend in Istanbul!
Russell believes that despite the difficult race, the team can still take many learning points away from it.
“It was definitely not an easy race today. The first 10 laps or so felt pretty good but as the intermediate tyre started to wear down on the dry line it became increasingly difficult. The conditions were quite unique as, even though that dry line was appearing, because of the cloud cover and the temperature it wasn’t close to switching over to the slicks.
“We can definitely learn something from today though as, even though we didn’t quite have the pace we would have hoped for, it was very difficult for everybody to manage.”
“I was too far back to try and recover” – Nicholas Latifi
Nicholas Latifi’s race was done before he had really gotten going, the Canadian span on the opening lap of the race in the wet conditions. When running he actually showed half-decent pace, leaving the Williams driver wondering what could’ve been.
Considering it was Latifi’s first full wet race in Formula One, the Canadian is glad to have experienced it despite it’s difficulties.
“My race came undone by spinning on the opening lap and from then on, I was too far back to try and recover the ground I had lost. I also lost quite a lot of time trying to pass the two Haas cars of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin. However, it was my first full Grand Prix in the wet and that was a good experience. Obviously, it was not the result we wanted but our pace was good at times.
“I tried to make up the time I had lost but in conditions like these you have to be very reserved with how you push. That’s part of the learning so there are still positives to take from today, but it is frustrating as you still want a positive outcome.”
