Alonso's 'experience and speed' made it difficult - Russell

F1 News

4 July 2021 at 17:12
Last update 4 July 2021 at 18:04
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  • Cameron Smith

Despite finally reaching Q3 for Williams, George Russell was still unable to secure his first points for the team at the Austrian Grand Prix, finishing the race in P11.

The man who denied him a place in the top 10 was Fernando Alonso, who overtook the Brit in the final stages of the race, after valiant defending had prevented the Alpine driver from getting past for countless laps.

Speaking to SkySports about his race, Russell began by dissecting his start. "So close yet so far. I mean I didn't make the best start to be fair. I got off the line well but then Tsunoda had quite a big lock-up and cut in front of me to avoid crashing into his teammate actually and I had to get on the brakes and a couple of guys overtook me.

"That didn't really change the outcome of our race because they were faster cars that were always going to finish ahead and then I was driving as hard as I could, and as fast as I could."

Alonso was too fast

Russell then analysed his battle with Alonso, admitting "if you could choose any guy to have behind you, you probably wouldn’t choose Fernando."

“It was very tricky [to defend Alonso]. With all his experience and speed as well. Yesterday he was really, really fast and he should have finished inside the top five yesterday. So trying to keep him behind, and his speed this weekend that was good enough for the top five, it probably would never have happened."

Despite failing to score points once more, Russell can take great optimism from the double-header in Austria into the next race at Silverstone. 

However, that GP will see the introduction of sprint races, which Russell believes won't favour his team. "I don't think that would play into our favour [sprint qualifying] because we are a bit better on the quail performance then we are in the race. But we have to give it a try and maybe it goes the other way."