Russell jokes: "Typical, our first top 10 but we don't get points for it!"
F1 News
George Russell achieved his best result in a 'normal qualifying' session for Williams by finishing eighth fastest in Friday's qualifying session for the sprint race. The British driver didn't manage to hold on to P8 but only dropped down to P9.
This result means Russell will get his best Grand Prix grid position for Williams at his home race. In an interview with Sky Sports, Russell sees the funny side of finishing an F1 race inside the top 10 for the first time in a Williams car.
Typical!
"It was good fun to be honest. No tyre management was needed so it was flat out all the way which made it easier to stick with the guys and defend. Tomorrow is going to be difficult because its those last 10 laps on the tyres which make the difference. Typical, our first top 10 but we don't get points for it!" Alonso had a new soft tyre because he didn't get to Q3. We couldn't do that because we only had the used soft tyre," Russell explained.
The 23-year-old made it clear in the build-up to sprint qualifying that he was going to get his elbows out. During the race, Russell was placed under investigation for an incident with Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz. But Russell says there was nothing he could've done.
"Carlos came from wide and cut in. I saw him, but nothing I could've done with the angle I was at. He was closing the gap. It's one of those first lap things," Russell added.
Russell explained his plan for the British Grand Prix: "We have to attack. We want to move forward on lap one, we have Carlos behind, Ocon and Checo. Super fast cars. We need to be aggressive and make the most of it."