George continued to maintain his ‘Mr Saturday’ reputation as he secured this third consecutive Q2 appearance of 2021 at the Algarve International Circuit.

The windy conditions at the Portimão circuit made running difficult for all the drivers across the Saturday sessions but George was able to get the most out of his Williams FW43B to set a 1.19.797 lap time and move him into P15, out of the Q1 elimination places and into Q2.

George and his Williams team opted to run the Medium (C2) compound Pirelli tyres at the beginning of the Q2 session, placing him into P11 before pitting with eight minutes of the 15-minute session remaining.

The British driver returned to the track for the last two minutes of the session to put in a superb 1.19.109 lap time to take him into P11 where he will start Sunday’s Portuguese Grand Prix from.

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George Russell – Williams Racing Driver

“It was a great performance from us. I did not expect Q2 after this morning, yet alone P11 on the grid. We made it happen when it counted which seems to be the theme at the moment. It’s our best qualifying position in three years so I’m really proud. We all have our responsibilities, and as a team we did a really good job.

Tomorrow we’ve got to keep moving forward. We have a good race car – it’s fast on the straights, so let’s see what we can do.”

George will be on track for the PortugueseGP on Sunday May 2 at 3pm BST.