George ends Formula 1’s first free practice Friday of 2021 in P17 as tricky track conditions hamper his performance ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix.

New regulations for 2021 brought in a change to practice times, reducing the sessions from 90 minutes to 60 minutes, making all the time spent on track extremely valuable.

With soaring temperatures of 48C in FP1, George ran the Soft (C4) Pirelli tyres as he took to track for the first time this season, delivering a 1:34:127 to land him P17.

By FP2, temperatures had subsided substantially, and conditions were more representative of qualifying and race conditions, George switched to the Medium (C3) Pirelli tyres as he completed his high fuel run.

The Brit ended the final session of the day with a 1:32:731 and maintaining P17 as he goes into the final free practice session of the weekend.

George Russell - Williams Racing Driver

It was obviously tricky conditions today and I think the track temperature was up
at about 48 degrees at some points in FP1, which is incredibly hot. FP2 felt pretty good, and our high fuel pace was better than expected even with these gusty winds, so I was pleasantly surprised by that. Equally the wind is changing so much at the moment, which affects everybody a huge amount, but I believe our car is more sensitive to these changes. Fingers crossed it is either calm or in a favourable direction tomorrow and Sunday. I think it will be a long and tricky race, but I am looking forward to it.

Track action will get underway on Saturday March 27 at 12pm GMT with the final free practice session ahead of qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix.