After a fight off the line from 14th on the grid and a first lap sliding backwards, Russell put in an impressive drive and used an early pit stop to climb the checkered flag to 12th place.
Such was his pace and that of Williams, Russell was able to make a number of overtaking maneuvers, including passes on the Alps by Esteban Ocon and AlphaTauris Yuki Tsunoda to finish 12th in a race without failures.
The result is his best of the season and one position behind his all-time Williams result, which was the eventful Tuscan Grand Prix last year in which eight drivers failed to finish.
“It was a really great race from the inside. I did some great overtaking maneuvers and I did a really nice one [Yuki] Tsunoda in the end that for us in front of these cars, the Alfas, [Esteban] Ocon and overtook Tsunoda on the track, finishing in 12th place. I would even go so far as to say that this is probably our best race together ever [with Williams]“Russell told Sky Sports F1.
“It’s a shame that nothing happened at the front because, as I said, 12th place is usually a good result, but I’m still very happy with it. It’s a good start to the three weeks.”
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While Russell was happy with his ride, the 23-year-old is determined to hone his starts and skills in the early round battles.
The Mercedes F1 Junior felt that on the warm-up lap, which turned out to be costly in the early stages of the race, the temperature control of its tires was below average.
“I don’t think I did my job well enough to get the tires in the window on the warm-up lap and I had a lot of wheelspin and it was just a bump,” he explained.
“I got trapped at Turn 1, I had a car on the outside, a car on the inside and I had nowhere to go.
“It’s something I’ve really struggled on since I’ve been in F1, to be honest, since I’ve been at the bottom of the grid, it’s something I have to work on.
“I kept trying, but in the end we managed to pit early and I took this hardship for a long time.”
Russell’s run in 12th place has lifted Williams to ninth place ahead of rival Haas in the constructors’ championship.
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