Williams Racing F1 Mexico GP race – frustrating weekend

FIA Formula 1 World Championship – Mexico City Grand Prix
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
November 5-7th, 2021
Sunday, November 7th 2021

•    George Russell finished 16th and Nicholas Latifi 17th in the Mexico City Grand Prix

•    Nicholas started the race 13th with George 16th, both on the medium Pirelli tyres

•    George made a strong start and ran as high as ninth early on before making his only stop on lap 15 for a set of the hard compound tyre

•    Nicholas ran a two-stop race, pitting on lap 11 for the hard compound before stopping again on lap 49 for the medium tyre

Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: It was a tough day with the car requiring too much management to be able to race as hard as we would’ve liked. George had a very good opening lap, made good progress and got himself into a position that was above the real pace of the car. He tried to hold on, but defending was too difficult against the quicker cars.

Both drivers did a good job of managing the car throughout the race. This required a lot of discipline and mental effort and whilst it didn’t deliver a good result today, it is valuable experience for future races.

It has been a frustrating weekend and we are looking forward to getting a brief rest before heading to Brazil for the next event.

George Russell: It was probably the most difficult race of the season so far. We made a good start and had moved up to P9 from P16 on lap one which was relatively strong, and I thought we could be on for a good result. However, we did not have the pace after that and went backwards so there’s lots to review.

It wasn’t a very enjoyable afternoon but the positive is that this Grand Prix is a unique race with the temperature management that is required, so hopefully our pace in Brazil will be better than here.

Nicholas Latifi: Unfortunately, my race came undone at the start. I’ll have to watch the video back to see what happened in that first lap. I thought I was going to come out of the first few corners gaining a couple of positions from the cars going off, but I stayed on track to avoid them and ended up losing out quite a bit.

After that, with the pace we had, it was just a race of blue flags. It was an afternoon to forget but now it’s onwards to Brazil.

Track: Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico    Weather: Warm and dry conditions
Lap Length: 4.304km/ 2.674 miles    Temperature: Air: 19-23°C Track: 43-49°C
Pos    Driver    Team    Time/Gap (Fastest Lap)    Grid    Tyre Changes

1.    M. Verstappen    Red Bull Racing Honda    1:38.39.086 (1:18.999)    3    1 (33)

2.    L. Hamilton    Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team    +16.555(1:19.820)    2    1 (29)

3.    S. Perez    Red Bull Racing Honda    +17.752(1:19.468)     4    1 (40)

16.    G. Russell, FW43B-04    Williams Racing    + 2 LAPS(1:22.016)    16    1 (15)

17.    N. Latifi, FW43B-02    Williams Racing    +2 LAPS(1:21.546)    13    2 (11, 49)
 

– Sophie Ogg, photos Williams

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