F1 News

George Russell: Driving “under the radar” has allowed for more exploration

George Russell: Driving “under the radar” has allowed for more exploration

17-10-2019 16:15

Bevan Youl

George Russell has said that being able to drive “under the radar” at the back of the grid with Williams has given him an opportunity to explore that could help in years to come in Formula 1.

Russell made the step up to F1with Williams in 2019 after having successively won the GP3 and Formula 2 titles in 2017 and 2018.
 
The Mercedes junior has out-qualified teammate Robert Kubica at every race so far and beaten him in the race on 13 of the 15 occasions both drivers have finished.
 
Despite edging out his teammate the majority of the time Kubica holds one point to his name in the driver standings compared to Russell’s zero.
 
“The whole Formula 1 rollercoaster itself, I wasn’t 100 per cent sure of what to expect but I’m really happy with how the season has gone, generally,” said Russell (quoted by MotorsportWeek).
 
“From the good moments to the tougher times, I think I wouldn’t change anything at all.
 
“Especially from the tougher times I’ve learned a huge amount and generally being in the position that I’ve been at the back of the grid it’s given us an opportunity and me an opportunity just to explore a bit more and be under the radar.
 
“Hopefully that will help me out in years to come when we should be fighting.”
 
Williams has fought at the back of the grid this year with the drivers main competition being each other but the Briton believes the progress made on the FW42 will let them fight for some midfield positions in 2020.
 
“It’s definitely improved a lot just in the drivability side of things,” he added.
 
“From within, it’s definitely a nicer car to drive. It is obviously always quite tricky to make huge leaps forward for any teams but I think the foundations we have in place now are really positive going into next year.
 
“I’ve got faith we should be fighting probably towards the lower end of the midfield but hopefully getting into the mix much more than we are at the moment.”