F1 News
George Russell happy with "surprising" Williams performance in Italy
- Nicolás Quarles van Ufford
After finishing in 14th at the Italian Grand Prix, Williams rookie George Russell said he was positively surprised by the performance of his FW42 during the race, as Monza usually is one of the worst tracks for the Grove-based team.
The youngster qualified in 18th, beating teammate Robert Kubica yet again on a Saturday, but the duo moved up the grid as a host of grid penalties got handed out. Russell started in 14th and did really well to finish in that same position, even battling the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel at one stage with the German having dropped down the grid after a ten-second stop-go penalty.
All in all, despite there being no points to show for it, another good showing for Russell, who does remain the only driver yet to score a point in 2019.
"Our pace was surprising, especially considering Monza is one of the three worst circuits of the year for us with our straight-line speed," the 21-year-old said.
"We definitely have some positives to take away, it shows that we did a good job with the set-up, with the tyres, with everything else in our control. I think we can be quite pleased with the result."
With drag being Williams' main issue on the FW42 and reducing drag being the absolute key factor on a speedy track like Monza, Williams knew they'd struggle massively on the legendary track. To walk away with P14 is a good sign!