Fenland driver happy with his debut Formula One season

George Russell steers his car during practice in Barcelona.

Russell finished 17th to follow two 15th and one 16th place finish in his uncompetitive Williams car, although he did have the consolation of overtaking more experienced teammate Robert Kubica during the race in Barcelona.

The Williams cars are constantly the slowest in practice and in racing, although Russell was also not helped by picking up a grid penalty for backing into a wall during qualifying.

“Robert got the better of me at the start,” Russell stated. “But I made a nice little overtake on him, which I later found out was not shown at all on TV, but that’s how it is at the moment!

George Russell during a press conference in Barcelona.

“It’s been an intriguing weekend for us, we brought some test items and got some decent information from it, so another learning weekend.

“Overall our pace looked slightly stronger than anticipated and I was feeling confident in final practice

“But then obviously putting [the car] into the wall was probably not great for my confidence into qualifying. But I was pleased with that final lap.

“The fact that everybody has brought their big upgrades and we haven’t really brought anything to the car, just a few little test items to try to understand the car better, is encouraging.”

“Perhaps we optimised for qualifying more than the guys just ahead of me did but there’s no reason yet we can’t be on the back of them in the opening laps and see what happens later in the race, but at the moment we’re just being realistic.

“It would be silly to go out there and expect points or anything, so we have to go out there and use each session as a test session really and try to understand stuff for later in the year.

“I’ve had some really strong qualifyings at points this year, so from a personal perspective I left that session quite satisfied really.

“Obviously from a personal perspective you’re changing your goals slightly.

“You’ve got to be realistic and I’ve got to set myself goals and targets before each weekend and session and at the moment I’m pleased with the job I’m doing.”

Next up on the Formula One season is the Monaco Grand Prix (May 26).