George Russell secured his best qualifying result Williams Racing Career to date on Saturday, with the British ready to start Portuguese Grand Prix from a respectable eleventh place on the grid.
The Brit admitted he hadn’t expected to make it into Q2 in qualifying after a relatively poor performance in final practice gave him a low seventeenth place. He and the team scratched their heads, especially after impressing on Friday.
But when it came down to it, Russell was able to pull a lap time less than a tenth of a second away to make it into the third quarter for the second time in his career, after doing so earlier in his one-off Had done with the excursion Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team last year Sakhir Grand Prix.
“It was a great performance from us,” said Russell. “After this morning I didn’t expect the second quarter, just P11 on the grid. We did it when it counted what seems to be the topic at the moment.
“It’s our best qualifying position in three years so I’m really proud. We all have our responsibilities and as a team we did a really good job. “
Russell hopes that he will be able to continue the positive dynamic and be in the on Sunday afternoon Autódromo Internacional do Algarveand he feels like he has the car to do just that.
“Tomorrow we have to move forward,” said the Briton. “We have a good racing car – it’s quick on the straights so let’s see what we can do.”
“It was a frustrating day” – Nicholas Latifi
Teammate Nicholas latifi was less impressive in qualifying as the Canadian was eliminated in the first quarter. He will start eighteenth, just before the two Uralkali Haas F1 Team Driver.
Despite disappointment with his early elimination, Latifi was happier with his car’s performance on Saturday than the weekend before, but he still went into the session with imbalance, which ultimately meant he didn’t have the pace to challenge Q2 .
“Today was an improvement as we made some big changes overnight,” said Latifi. “However, it wasn’t the best qualifying for us and I couldn’t drive a clean lap at the end of the first quarter.
“I still have problems with the balance of the car and the road surface as everyone is sliding around. It’s been a frustrating day, but the race is tomorrow and that’s what we have to focus on. “
Nicholas Latifi fought on Saturday and was eliminated in the first quarter – Credit: Williams Racing
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