George Russell said his Williams was far easier to drive in yesterday’s Spanish Grand Prix, even though he fell out of contention for points late in the race.
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He attributed the improved handling to calmer conditions at the circuit compared with the previous round in Portugal. “We did a really good job with the car,” Russell said after the race. “The car felt today the best it’s ever felt, to be honest, in a race, probably the best I can ever remember.”
He added that a steady track made the FW43B far more enjoyable to drive. “That just makes it so joyous to drive compared to normal. Most of which I put down to just a calm day. We know the beast we have.”
After the race in Portugal, Russell and team mate Nicholas Latifi had said they need consistent weather to extract the best from the car. Russell reiterated that point in Spain.
“It was just a calm and consistent day today. The wind was less than 10 kilometres an hour with minimal gusts, which just made the car consistent to drive,” he explained. “And when it’s consistent, as a driver, you can drive around it. I think that’s something Nicholas and I have really struggled with, especially in Portimão, which was really exposed and incredibly inconsistent.”
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Russell described how inconsistent conditions damage confidence and tyre life, creating a downward spiral. “As a driver you lose all the confidence, then it has a negative effect on the tyres and then you just have this downward spiral. Whereas on days like today, when the car’s nice and consistent, a driver can really push it to its limit, manage the car as you wish, manage the tyres as you wish and really optimise everything.”
Russell acknowledged that many drivers noticed an improvement, but said Williams benefit more than others when conditions are favourable. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure a lot of people felt like their car felt better today. But I think we take a bigger jump in both directions when these conditions are favourable or not.”
During the race he ran as high as 10th, but tyre degradation saw him drop to 14th by the finish. He praised the team’s bold strategy of pitting during an early Safety Car, aiming to stretch the stint and effectively attempt a one-stop race.
He spent much of the race close behind Fernando Alonso, and said passing the Alpine would still likely not have been enough to hold off faster cars. “We did a really great job pitting under the Safety Car at the beginning, effectively almost doing a one-stop,” Russell said. “Had I just managed to clear Alonso then who knows? I think actually having Alonso ahead of me helped keep those faster cars behind because I had the DRS. They have half a second of car pace and probably one second of tyre pace. It would have been an incredible task.”
He concluded by expressing satisfaction that the team “rolled the dice” with the strategy and earned a strong running position as a result. Though the final result fell short of points, the weekend offered encouraging evidence of the car’s potential in consistent conditions.
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