‘Mr Saturday’ George Russell delivered again when it mattered Red Bull Ring, whereby the Brit just barely missed an appearance in Q3.
Only 0.008 seconds separated Russell from tithing Lance walk, With Williams races come so close to their first Q3 appearance since 2018.
Russell admits it was frustrating to get as close to Q3 as he was, even though he’ll start in tenth after that Yuki Tsunoda received a three-place penalty for handicap place Valtteri Bottas during Q2.
And with the team focused on improving his racing pace, the Brit goes into Sunday confident that he can fight for a top ten finish and his first points result as a Williams driver.
“I pushed my absolute limit in qualifying and the car really came to life when it mattered, so the lap felt really strong,” said Russell. “It’s frustrating when we got so close to Q3, eight thousandths of a second is really nothing, but tomorrow we’ll have the tire choice in P11, so that’s a good place.
“The team is trying very hard to keep up the race pace at the moment, so it is very gratifying to achieve a great result on Saturday. We are here today for merit; We did a good job and the car feels strong.
“There is no reason why we can’t leave the others behind us tomorrow, I don’t look in my mirror, I’m happy and want to get into the top ten.”
“It’s frustrating to just miss the second quarter” – Nicholas Latifi
Teammate Nicholas Latifi was also frustrated after being on the wrong side of the cut-off point in Q1, even though he was less than seven tenths of a second behind the session’s best.
Only 0.033 seconds separated Latifi from hitting McLaren F1 team‘s Daniel Ricciardo in Q1 but ultimately his best time wasn’t enough to get into Q2 and the traffic cost him the chance to improve on his final run.
“I didn’t feel very confident yesterday, but we made a lot of progress today and the car has improved quite a bit,” said Latifi. “It’s frustrating to just miss out on Q2, but my second lap was very competitive so I was happy with it.
“On my last run I lost some time in the last sector behind the traffic; it can block your line of sight into such high-speed turns, so I got a little out of shape there. All in all a frustrating result, but there are many positive things for tomorrow’s race. “
Nicholas Latifi was just 0.033 seconds from reaching the second quarter – Image credit: Williams Racing
The post George Russell: “It’s frustrating when we were so close to Q3” first appeared on monter-une-startup.
