Reaching Q3 like pole position for Williams

George Russell says reaching Q3 in Austria felt “like pole position” for Williams after scoring his best Formula 1 qualifying result with the team on Saturday.

Russell finished just eight thousandths of a second behind a Q3 spot at the Red Bull Ring last Saturday and was chasing points in the race before an engine problem forced him to retire.

But Russell showed little evidence that the setback hurt him as he battled his way into Q3 in Williams colors for the first time and got Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz out of the way in the final stages of Q2.

Russell was ninth after the first few runs in Q2, but the decision to switch to the slower, medium compound tire didn’t prove costly as he was still improving his time and making it into Q3.

The Williams driver was able to qualify in ninth place, but is expected to win at least one starting place, as Sebastian Vettel is being investigated for the suspension of Fernando Alonso.

“It really felt like pole position for us,” said Russell after qualifying in the Red Bull Ring paddock.

“Getting into Q3 is one thing, but going on the middle tire is massive.

“Of course, before the session we discussed the order in which we would do the Q2, whether it would be the soft one first and then the middle one or vice versa. But we were pretty adamant that we weren’t in the top 10 of the soft.

“To do that feels almost like a pole position and probably the most excited one I’ve won since my last race.”

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Russell’s result is the first time Williams has competed in Q3 since the 2018 Italian Grand Prix. His only other appearance was his one-off appearance for Mercedes in Sakhir last year when he qualified second.

Williams will start the race on Sunday and chase his first points since Germany 2019 and have a real chance to overtake both Haas and Alfa Romeo in the constructors championship.

Russell was optimistic about the team’s chances, believing the cars around him starting on the soft compound tires might have more problems.

“If we had done this last stint on the soft it would have been really difficult because like I said, we don’t think we wanted to be on this soft,” said Russell.

“We are in an amazing position with the AlphaTauris in front of us on the soft, [Lance] Stroll and probably Sebastian behind us on the softs.

“We think the tire will be a disaster in the race. It seemed like they know something we don’t! Hopefully they don’t.”

“We have the flexibility to do what we want with the strategy while I think these guys are pretty locked up.”

Russell’s performance came on the same day Mercedes announced that Lewis Hamilton would stay with the team for two more years.

Russell is now fighting with Hamilton’s current team-mate Valtteri Bottas for the second Mercedes seat, which has been part of his youth program since 2017.

But Russell said the timing of his attack on Q3 in the context of Mercedes’ driver decision wasn’t something he was concerned about.

“As for timing, it doesn’t even play in my head,” said Russell.

“I’m only there week after week, I just want to show what I can do to everyone and to myself, Williams and Mercedes, and hopefully that will add to that.”