George Russell

Red Bull dropped Albon in 2012 but managed to extract the Anglo-Thai from a Nissan Formula E contract last year so it could place him in F1 with its junior team Toro Rosso for 2019. <br>Albon scored his first points in Bahrain but suffered a big crash in final practice in China that forced him to miss qualifying. <br>Mercedes protege and Williams race driver Russell said: “Alex is doing a ...

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Russell's strategy of starting on medium tyres meant he had climbed to as high as 12th after several midfield cars made early pitstops and Daniil Kvyat served a drive-through penalty in the Toro Rosso.<br>But the Williams man was shuffled down the order before long, and, when asked by Motorsport.com about how it felt to be racing other cars, admitted he took little interest in the short-lived ...

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Montoya, a CART champion and two-time Indy 500 winner, drove for Williams for four of his five-and-a-half seasons in F1, scoring four victories and twice finishing third in the drivers' championship.<br>F1 drivers are required to use a consistent helmet design throughout the season, but are allowed a single change for one race in a given campaign.<br>However, with F1 billing the Chinese GP as the ...

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Russell drove his regular Williams FW42 on the first day of the post-race test, before moving to the Mercedes works machine for the second day. On combined times he was both the fastest and slowest driver at the test.<br>"It was an incredible experience and an experience not many drivers get to try," Russell said ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix.<br>"They are currently leading the world ...

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The Briton's Williams team has been marooned at the back of the grid at the start of 2019, leaving Russell and his teammate Robert Kubica to fight each other.<br>Russell has outqualified and outraced the returning grand prix winner in each of the two F1 races so far and says his "aspirations are to get the team further up the grid and make the most of sessions that are a bit trickier, maybe mixed ...

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The Williams rookie is one of the tallest drivers on the F1 grid and has revealed that after weighing 66kg in his Formula 2 title-winning season last year, he is now up to "72, 73kg".<br>That is because Russell has taken advantage of a new, independent minimum driver weight of 80kg being introduced for the 2019 season. <br>Even smaller, lighter drivers have noted the benefits the new rule has had ...

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Russell drove for Williams on Tuesday at the post-Bahrain Grand Prix test before taking over from Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, which retains close ties to its former junior driver.<br>An improvement in the final hour of the test allowed Russell to set a 1m29.029s, leapfrogging Racing Point's Sergio Perez by just 0.066s.<br>However, Russell's work was delayed by what Mercedes described as a "small ...

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Though Russell is a full-time Williams driver on what was announced as a "multi-year" deal starting this season, he was a Mercedes junior before that and remains closely watched by the title-winning team.<br>Russell will reprise his 2017 and 2018 testing role with Mercedes when he gets behind the wheel of its 2019 car on Wednesday.<br>The reigning Formula 2 champion will take over from Lewis ...

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Kubica qualified less than a tenth behind Russell in Bahrain, after being more than 1.7s off in Australia.<br>Kubica said after Friday practice he felt he was driving a "different car" to his teammate in Bahrain, despite the fact they are meant to be identical, and suggested the fact there was less than a tenth between them in Q1 was misleading.<br>"There were a few issues in qualifying which we ...

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The Grove outfit confirmed on Friday that co-founder and former technical director Head is providing support to the engineering team as it regroups following the departure of Paddy Lowe.<br>The 72-year-old was last involved on a regular basis in 2011, when he was engineering director.<br>"I think it will be great," said Russell. "He's only coming in as a support role, it's nothing full time, but ...

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Russell and his teammate Robert Kubica qualifed on the back row of the grid for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, more than a second slower than the 18th-placed McLaren of Carlos Sainz.<br>They finished last of those who made it to the flag, with Russell lapped twice and Kubica three times, and Russell said ahead of this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix that he had called upon the team to make ...

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Kubica, who was a second slower than Russell in FP2, was at a loss to understand why the data indicated that the cars have different aerodynamic characteristics.<br>Crucially he has ruled out floor damage, after that was believed to have cost him performance in Melbourne.<br>"At least we understood that in Australia I ran a different set-up than George and we could clearly see the different ...

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The FIA is working on a solution after complaints following the Australian Grand Prix that the higher 2019 rear wings blocked some drivers' view of the start lights.<br>Russell, who started at the back of the grid in Melbourne, said it caused him to have a "terrible" start.<br>"I pulled up onto the grid, looked up and realised I couldn't see anything and I kind of shat my pants," he ...

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After the late arrival of its new FW42 led to a disrupted pre-season programme, Williams was firmly last in the pecking order throughout all of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.<br>Russell trailed Kubica in first practice but was ahead in every session after that, going on to finish a lap up on the Polish driver, who had broken his front wing at the start.<br>“From a personal ...

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Rookie Russell was 19th in second practice on Friday, some 1.7s off the car in 18th, and ahead only of teammate Robert Kubica.<br>However, Russell is optimistic about the potential of the package.<br>"It's not perfect, but I wouldn't say it was feeling as bad as the laptimes look, really," Russell said.<br>"If you told me before that we were going to be five seconds off or whatever I'd think the ...

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Williams started testing at Barcelona late because of build delays with its FW42, which meant F1 rookie Russell and his teammate Robert Kubica have had to compress their programmes.<br>It has made Williams’s task of bouncing back from a poor 2018 season more difficult, and Russell has admitted the team is starting the new year behind its rivals again.<br>“I'd be lying if I said we weren't the ...

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The British team started testing in Spain late because of build delays with its new FW42.<br>Russell kicked off the second test on Tuesday by completing 119 laps, 31 more than the team managed across its day-and-a-half of activity in the first week.<br>"After the last couple of weeks it's a huge relief to get a day like today," said Russell, who finished ninth-fastest, 1.9s off the pace.<br>"We've ...

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Williams missed priceless track mileage on Monday and Tuesday in Barcelona last week after some late delays to the car build.<br>Russell finally took to the track with the FW42 late on Wednesday, before completing more laps the following afternoon.<br>The F2 champion believes that Williams can bounce back, despite missing so much running.<br>"I think even myself, until you're involved in an F1 ...

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The FW42 arrived late to pre-season testing, logging its first laps on the afternoon of the third day and ending the first test week well short of the mileage accrued by every one of its rivals.<br>After debuting the car on Wednesday, Russell took over from Robert Kubica in the afternoon of the final day, and, like Kubica, he ran laps with the car fitted with an aero rake for logging ...

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Alongside his title-winning Formula 2 campaign, Russell spent the 2018 season as Mercedes’ official reserve, embedded in the team that has won the last five F1 drivers’ and constructors’ championship.<br>Lowe, who was part of the Mercedes top brass before moving to Williams for the start of the 2017 season, reckons Russell is “intelligent and humble” enough to have learned from the ...

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Norris was signed by McLaren shortly after September's Italian Grand Prix, but at that point ART Grand Prix driver Russell had surpassed his Carlin rival at the top of the F2 standings.<br>“Lando’s announcement so early helped me to push Williams for my drive,” explained Russell. <br>“Because if I was ahead of him in the [F2] championship and McLaren believed he [Norris] was worthy of a ...

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Russell, the 2018 Formula 2 champion, has signed a "multi-year" deal with Williams after spending last year dovetailing his racing commitments with the role of Mercedes reserve driver.<br>He told Motorsport.com that his position within F1's current all-conquering team gave him a new appreciation for how five-time world champion Hamilton conducts himself.<br>"There's a number of different ...

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Williams technical chief Paddy Lowe revealed earlier this month that Formula 2 points leader Russell had pushed to land a race seat with the team a year ago, which included making a presentation about what he could offer if he was signed. Speaking in an exclusive interview filmed at Motorsport.com’s UK offices, Russell explained that his motivation was to approach his pitch for a drive ...

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The Formula 2 title favourite, who has signed a multi-year deal to race for Williams, has tested for Force India and Mercedes this season. However, he had only driven on Williams's simulator before convincing the team to give him his grand prix debut. Williams has not confirmed its Abu Dhabi test line-up but chief technical officer Paddy Lowe said Russell would "almost certainly" be ...

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Russell has been confirmed at Williams for 2019 after impressing the team with his championship-leading Formula 2 campaign, Mercedes test outings and simulator work. His off-track attitude has also made a significant early impression on the likes of Lowe and deputy team principal Claire Williams. Lowe told Motorsport.com that Russell initially wanted to be considered for the 2018 drive that ...

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