George Russell is hoping for an “exciting” 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix after Williams enjoyed their best Qualifying session in 16 races.
Having last seen both cars advance beyond Q1 at the 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix, Williams enjoyed a strong Qualifying session at Imola as Russell qualified 12th for tomorrow’s (18 April) race and Nicholas Latifi was 14th fastest.
This result however marks an impressive improvement for Russell who uncharacteristically was slower than Latifi throughout Friday Practice and preserves his unbeaten qualifying head-to-head record.
Reflecting on his qualifying performance after feeling “off the pace all weekend,” Russell said; “We got through Q1 by the skin of our teeth and then did a really good job in Q2 when it mattered.”
Looking ahead to tomorrow’s race, Russell is happy with his grid position and believes that the FW43B’s straight-line speed will help them, commenting; “I am really happy with P12, the car is looking quick in a straight line which is going to help us tomorrow on a track that is difficult to overtake.”
Latifi meanwhile recovered from a FP3 incident at Variante Villeneuve in which he narrowly hit the barriers to put himself 14th on the grid ahead of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso.
After feeling “really pleased” with his Q1 lap, the Canadian was less than happy with his Q2 lap, as he said; “Q2 I was a little disappointed as I didn’t get the improvement I needed to due to a little mistake at the beginning of my second lap.”
Latifi however isn’t too optimistic on what we can expect in terms of overtaking despite his hopes for a good race, commenting; “I am expecting the car to feel good in race trim. It is a notoriously difficult track to overtake on, but fingers crossed for a good one.”
Head of Vehicle Performance, Dave Robson meanwhile feels that both drivers delivered a “great job” in Qualifying, as Latifi completed his full programme despite a small snap of oversteer causing his incident in FP3.
Robson also spoke of the car having good pace and upgrades working well yet is cautious about their race expectations, explaining that extra work is needed if they’re to turn today’s performance into a “meaningful” race result.
Rain however is a possibility and Robson has admitted that the uncertainty surrounding the weather could benefit Williams, saying; “The weather for the race looks a little uncertain, but we hope that we can use any doubt over the conditions to our advantage.”
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