George scores his best results of 2021 as he ends Formula One’s French Grand Prix in P12.

In the opening stages of the race, the British driver was unable to capitalise on his qualifying position, as a difficult start saw the Brit dropped four places from P14 to P18 and fighting with his teammate Nicholas Latifi for P17. He cleared his teammate in lap 10 - setting his sights on the drivers ahead and began to reel off a strong pace.

George was able to take advantage of some early pitstops, moving up three places to P14 before pitting on lap 18/53 for a fresh set of Hard compound Pirelli tyres, rejoining the track in P19.

With fresh rubber on, it was time for George to get to work and hunt down some positions.

It wasn’t long before George gained back two positions to take him into P17 by lap 23.

As the laps ticked down, George continued to make up ground and by lap 35, George had made his way up into P13 - making great use of his Hard compound tyres, showing very strong race pace as the race developed into the closing stages.

George remained in P13 but continued to close the gap between himself and the Alpha Tauri of Yuki Tsunoda until lap 51, as he overtook the Japanese driver to take P12, securing the position to the chequered flag.
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George Russell – Williams Racing Driver

“It was a really good afternoon. We made a couple of overtakes, including Tsunoda on track, and managed to finish ahead of Ocon and the Alfa Romeos, too. The conditions out there were tricky, and it was hard to keep temperature in the tyres without too much graining, but the car felt good and we made the strategy work really well. Finishing 12th on merit is a great achievement and I would go as far as saying it’s probably the best race I’ve ever had with the team. “

George will return for FP1 of the Styrian GP on Friday June 25 from 10:30am BST.