George Russell

The opening 10 races of the season were called off as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but plans are in place to stage two races behind closed doors at the Red Bull Ring in Austria on 5 and 12 July.<br>It will mark the first F1 race in over seven months, only interrupted by six days of winter testing in February, with many drivers believing it will take time for them to get up to speed once the ...

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Russell, who beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to take his maiden Virtual GP win last time out at Catalunya, qualified second in the first wet qualifying of the season. <br>FIA Formula 3 driver David Schumacher – son of six-time F1 grand prix winner Ralf – took his maiden pole position with a lap time four-tenths quicker than Russell’s fastest attempt.  <br>2018 Formula 2 champion Russell ...

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Russell says that today's dramatic driver market moves make sense as teams position themselves for the future by hiring young talent, and he believes that Daniel Ricciardo's arrival at McLaren will be a "win-win" for Lando Norris.<br>Russell, who is committed to Williams for the immediate future and in effect is on standby for a Mercedes drive longer term, has not been part of this week's ...

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While the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the opening 10 races of the 2020 season to be called off, F1 is formulating plans to get the campaign underway in Austria at the start of July.<br>It would mark a return to racing action for the F1 drivers seven months since the 2019 finale in Abu Dhabi, only interrupted by six days of pre-season testing in February.<br>While some drivers have downplayed how ...

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Williams scored just one point in 2019 and its drivers rarely escaped elimination in the first segment of qualifying. <br>Although troubled by several engine-related issues during the two Barcelona tests this year, both Russell and his rookie teammate Nicolas Latifi set lap times in the new FW43 which were faster than either of the team’s drivers managed in qualifying for last season’s Spanish ...

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Williams’ 2020 season started in much better shape compared to ’19 – when it missed the first two full days of testing with the FW42 – with Russell handing it the ninth fastest-time in the first Barcelona test, ahead of Haas.<br>When asked if he felt Williams would be closer to the midfield compared to last year, when the team scored just one point, Russell said: “There's no way we'll be ...

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Despite the British driver coming off the back of a campaign where he had the edge over teammate Robert Kubica, Russell thinks any expectations that he will easily do the same over Latifi are incorrect.<br>"You're only as good as your last race so it's a fresh start," explained the Williams driver.<br>"I think Nicholas is definitely very underrated, you know. He's incredibly prepared. And he's ...

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After missing the first two-and-a-half days of winter testing in 2019 due to delays with the car build, Russell and Williams were first out of the pitlane in Barcelona on Wednesday.<br>Russell managed to complete 73 laps through the morning session - 33 more than he did in the entire opening test last year - and finished the morning sixth-fastest.<br>The Briton's best lap was half a second quicker ...

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Williams’ 2019 season got off to a bad start when its FW42 missed the start of pre-season testing and it quickly became clear the car was uncompetitive and well off the back of F1’s midfield battle.<br>Chief technical officer Paddy Lowe left the team, which went on to score just one point in 2019 and finished last in the constructors’ championship for the second year in a row.<br>Williams ...

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Formula 2 champion Russell stepped up to F1 in 2019 alongside fellow British rookies Lando Norris (McLaren) and Alex Albon (Red Bull).<br>Albon, who stepped up to Red Bull from Toro Rosso mid-season, emerged as top rookie runner in eighth in the standings, with Norris just missing out on the top 10 while Russell struggled to last in the standings in an uncompetitive Williams.<br>All three grew up ...

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Russell has been on Mercedes’ books since 2017 and won the GP3 and Formula 2 titles back-to-back with the marque’s backing, before graduating to F1 to race for its engine customer Williams.<br>And though teammate Robert Kubica capitalised on the Grove-based team’s only opportunity to score points in 2019 in Germany, it was Russell who was Williams’ yardstick for most of the season ...

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On the heels of a disrupted pre-season, the Grove-based outfit spent the year firmly at the back of the pack and almost always significantly adrift of its competition, with its two drivers Russell and Robert Kubica usually left to battle exclusively among themselves.<br>And though Kubica capitalised on the opportunity to pick up Williams' sole point of the season in a chaotic rain-hit German Grand ...

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Williams race driver Russell, returning to the wheel for Mercedes after driving its 2019 car in the official post-season test last week, completed more than 200 laps over Sunday and Monday at the Yas Marina circuit.<br>Sunny weather allowed Russell to complete 100 and 118 laps on the two respective days as Pirelli's 2021 development testing came to an end for the year.<br>Pirelli tasked Renault ...

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Williams race driver Russell took over the Mercedes from Valtteri Bottas for the second day of the Yas Marina test, and outpaced Leclerc by two tenths of a second.<br>The F1 rookie, who has been a Mercedes protege for several years, lapped a tenth slower than Bottas's Tuesday benchmark – but Mercedes had insisted during the grand prix weekend that Russell's latest test was not a direct ...

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Russell will drive for his regular team on Tuesday morning at the start of the two-day 2020 tyre test before handing the FW42 over to ex-F2 driver Roy Nissany for the afternoon.<br>He will then drive the Mercedes W10 on Wednesday, after Valtteri Bottas runs it on Tuesday.<br>World champion Lewis Hamilton is not available as he has team sponsor commitments.<br>Russell will return to Abu Dhabi next ...

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Russell outpacing Kubica by half a second en route to 19th on the grid in Abu Dhabi meant he completed a rare whitewash in qualifying head-to-head over a season against the Polish F1 returnee.<br>And while Kubica was within half a tenth of Russell's best time in both Bahrain and China, he would never get that close again for the rest of the year, ending up with a median deficit of 0.488s to his ...

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Russell reported that he wasn’t feeling fit on Thursday evening, so the Grove team cast around the paddock for a replacement.<br>Mercedes reserve Esteban Ocon had a seat fitting, but due to his long legs he was not able to fit comfortably in the car with Russell’s custom-made carbon seat – and there was no opportunity to make one for him.<br>The team turned instead to its 2018 race driver ...

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Russell has a medical issue and underwent a check this morning. He was given the go ahead to drive in FP1, and a decision will be made later on whether he will be fit enough to continue.<br>The team does not want to put reserve driver Nicholas Latifi in the car as he is focussing on his F2 programme this weekend, and there is also the issue with his superlicence.<br>It has thus had to look outside ...

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Latifi, who has completed six FP1 sessions and three days of testing this year, has long been favourite for the drive.<br>He had to finish in the top five of this year’s FIA F2 championship in order to guarantee himself a superlicence, and he currently lies second with just the Abu Dhabi round to go and the required licence points secure. Latifi will be joined at Williams by George Russell, who ...

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Current Williams reserve driver Nicholas Latifi remains the favourite to take the seat, which would make Russell the senior driver on the line-up in only his second year.<br>However, Hulkenberg is the obvious choice should the team be in a position to hire a driver who doesn't bring a budget.<br>Russell says he just wants a quick teammate against whom he can further a reputation.<br>"My preference ...

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The crash happened when Grosjean had tried to hang his Haas VF-19 round the outside of Russell exiting Turn 8 in a lap 35 battle for 17th place.<br>His right-front tyre made contact with the left rear of Russell and the Briton's Williams was speared into the wall, Russell retiring on the spot and telling his team "I shouldn't be surprised" in the immediate aftermath.<br>Grosjean went on to finish ...

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As Russell rounded the Ascari chicane and entered the back straight, a recovery vehicle was making its way towards Sergio Perez’s crashed car on the grass on the left-hand side of the track. <br>When Russell had cleared the stricken Racing Point and approached Parabolica, he radioed his Williams team to say: “What are they doing bringing that truck onto the track while we’re still driving ...

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Williams' delayed FW42 began the season well adrift of the rest of Formula 1's 2019 crop of cars, but in-season development has allowed it to make strides, thus far culminating in Russell qualifying among midfield cars in Hungary.<br>However, while not aided by the above-average length of the Spa-Francorchamps lap, Russell's gap to first place in Q1 in Belgium was his biggest all season - with a ...

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Russell stepped up to F1 with Williams after back-to-back titles in GP3 and Formula 2, but has joined the British team in an uncompetitive state and is the only driver without a point after team-mate Robert Kubica's fortunate 10th-place finish in Germany.<br>Prior to his championship-winning seasons on the F1 support package, Russell had a less successful two-year spell in European F3, but still ...

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Russell has performed well in difficult circumstances in his rookie F1 season, after joining the Williams line-up as Formula 2 champion.<br>Williams’s struggles have left Russell almost exclusively fighting teammate Robert Kubica at the tail of the field, but Russell’s performances have led some to link him with a possible move to Mercedes, which has backed him since his title-winning GP3 ...

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