Williams have vowed to “take a lot of positives” away from a disastrous 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, which saw both George Russell and Nicholas Latifi fail to finish.
A strong weekend at Imola saw Russell and Latifi both reach Q2 in which they qualified 12th and 14th respectively, although both drivers eventually crashed out of the race in tough circumstances.
Latifi failed to complete the first lap after spinning at Acque Minerali before accidentally clipping the front left of Nikita Mazepin’s Haas, which sent the Canadian’s Williams crashing into the barriers.
Speaking post-race, Latifi admitted that he was at fault in “tricky” conditions having locked his rear tyres to cause the spin, but tried to stay towards the left-hand side as he re-joined the track but the driver line drew him back across to create his race-ending mistake.
On whether he saw Mazepin or not, Latifi admitted that he wasn’t aware of the Russian’s presence, saying; I didn’t see Mazepin when I joined the track but looking at the replay, I have seen we made contact and that sent me into the wall.”
Russell meanwhile retired following a huge collision on lap 32 with Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas at Tamburello, after dropping a right tyre on the wet grass following movement from Bottas entering the corner.
The pair consequently collided in a heavy smash which sent both drivers into the barriers and caused a 27 minute red flag, due to debris strewn across the track.
Speaking post-race on that incident, Russell described it as “unfortunate” yet avoidable, explaining; “Valtteri was defending hard, and he is in his right to do so. The track was going left, and he was going straight. In these conditions with one dry line, it only had one outcome.”
Head of Vehicle Performance, Dave Robson is disappointed to leave Imola with neither car in the points but is happy with the “decent weekend” endured by the team despite the “tricky conditions” on race day.
Robson however is confident that Russell had the pace to outshine Mercedes’ no.2 driver, commenting; “We had the pace and speed to overtake Bottas, and had we been able to make the move cleanly we looked set for a strong finish.”
This weekend however has seen progress which Robson hopes that Williams can take forward into coming races, adding; “We can take a lot of positives from this weekend as the car and drivers have performed well and have been backed up by some excellent work in the garage and in Grove.”
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