Jack Aitken satisfied with debut so far: "I can't complain"

Williams debutant Jack Aitken has performed admirably since his late call-up to the team for this weekend's Sakhir Grand Prix, and secured a solid result with P18 in qualifying for Sunday's race, not far behind teammate Nicholas Latifi.

Aitken, who has had a difficult season in Formula 2 with Campos, was called up earlier this week after George Russell was drafted in to replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes.

The 25-year-old has shown that he is a far better driver than his Formula 2 season suggests, and told Sky Sports after the session: "The aim for me has been to make a step every time I get in the car, and I have achieved that. I am a little bit gutted that the last run didn’t go as well as I had wanted it to, but I can’t complain."

Aitken believes that there is still plenty of chance for him to have a strong race on his Formula 1 debut, adding: "I think tyre management is going to play a bigger factor than we originally thought coming into the weekend. With it being such a short lap, how you play the blue flags and how that affects how many stops you make will be quite interesting.

"I am going to be trying my hardest every lap, so let’s see how tomorrow goes."