George finishes free practice Friday in P16 ahead of Formula 1’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Imola.

In a red flag marred FP1 session, George was able to put in 25 laps of the historic Italian circuit, hustling his Williams FW43B into P11 with a 1:17.866 lap time ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen.

The Brit made full use of the afternoon FP2 session, completing 31 laps with a 1:17.179 lap time. However, a crash for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at the latter end of the session cut the day short and George finished the day in P16.

Despite the multiple red flags hampering many driver, the cooler track temperatures during both sessions allowed for George and his Williams team to gain a better understanding of the FW43B and its behaviour in order to optimise its performance for qualifying and the race.

George Russell – Williams Racing Driver

“As a team we are looking relatively fast, but personally I am a bit off the pace. Nicholas is driving really well, probably the best I have seen him drive. I need to improve quite a bit to close the gap to our competitors, and to Nicholas. As a team we are in a good position, we have a lot of data to review but I’m sure that my engineers and I can figure it out.”

FP3 for the Emilia RomagnaGP will take place on Saturday April 17 at 10am BST.