Russell: “The pace is not as good as we hoped” | FormulaPassion.it

Together with the main news of Kimi Raikkonen’s retirement at the end of the season, one of the most insistent voices in the drivers’ market on the eve of Dutch Grand Prix still concerns the future of George Russell. The name of the Englishman would seem to be more and more similar to that of Mercedes for next season, even more so after the second place obtained in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix.

Regardless of the developments, the first two sessions of free tests disputed a Zandvoort cannot be defined as satisfactory for the current bishop of Williams, author – on paper – of lackluster performances: the Briton, both in PL1 and PL2, in fact finished behind his teammate Nicolas Latifi, even reaching the bottom of the standings at the end of the afternoon session. A result that, however, does not seem to worry too much Russell himself, who commented on his work on the track as follows: “It was a great experience to drive on this circuit – analyzed the number 63 – I think it is a favorite for a pilot. It has a lot of undulations, and all the parabolics are sensational. It’s fast, smooth, and you can’t afford to put a wheel off the track; are all things we would like on a track. In any case it was not easy, also because it was a day continuously interrupted by red flags. We haven’t been able to collect much from today, and unfortunately the pace is not as optimal as we hoped. However, we could increase it with some tweaks over the course of the night. Traffic too – concluded Russell – it will be difficult to manage, given the short lap. It will be the key to having the road clear tomorrow, particularly in Q1 ″.

The general traffic difficulties did not go unnoticed even by Latifi, author today of a 12th place in PL1 which was the best personal result of both scheduled tests: “Today was a real challenge – commented the second Williams driving – it is a narrow and winding track with few straights. With twenty cars on the track it will be difficult to create a space. I spent a lot of time looking in the mirrors, and it could be a problem organizing a fast lap. In any case – added the Canadian – it’s a very fun track to tackle. Represents one old school style that punishes you at the slightest mistake “.

FP | Alessandro Prada

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