George Completes Maiden Run for the FW42 in Barcelona

February 20, 2019
George Russell made his testing debut in the new Williams FW42 Formula One Car at the Circuit de Catalunya
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George Completes Maiden Run for the FW42 in Barcelona

February 20, 2019
George Russell made his testing debut in the new Williams FW42 Formula One Car at the Circuit de Catalunya

George Completes Maiden Run for the FW42 in Barcelona

February 20, 2019
George Russell made his testing debut in the new Williams FW42 Formula One Car at the Circuit de Catalunya

George Completes Maiden Run for the FW42 in Barcelona

Published:
February 20, 2019
at
5:30 pm

George Russell made his Formula One pre-season testing bow with ROKiT Williams Racing this afternoon at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, where the first shakedown of the new FW42 Formula One car was completed in preparation for the 2019 season.

Following an incredible effort by the entire team back at Williams HQ in the UK and at the track in Barcelona to get the new car ready for the first test, George gave the new FW42 its first laps on track.

The 2019 Williams contender successfully completed its intended shakedown, gaining valuable mileage and experience of the new machinery for the team.

George completed 23 laps (107.07km) of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on his first day as a fully-fledged Formula One race driver.

After a difficult build-up to the first test – which saw the team forced to miss the opening two days – the real work and preparation for the season will begin with performance running from Thursday.

Robert Kubica will be testing the car in tomorrow's morning session, with George making his return to the cockpit in the afternoon.

George Russell - ROKiT Williams Racing Driver:

“It was amazing to finally drive the FW42. Today we focused purely on install laps, shaking the car down and data gathering. Our focus was not on performance runs so I can’t judge the overall potential of the car, but I’m excited that we will get a full day of running tomorrow”


Paddy Lowe - ROKiT Williams Racing Chief Technical Officer:

“It’s very disappointing to miss two days of this first test in Barcelona, but we are very happy today that we got the car out for the afternoon session,” commented Williams Chief Technical Officer, Paddy Lowe.
We were late but not for the lack of incredible effort from the whole team both in the factory and here in the garage.

We spent the afternoon doing a number of systems checks and various data gathering programmes without any significant reliability issues, so we are happy with that as a first look at the FW42.

This puts us in good shape to get down to some more significant programmes starting tomorrow morning. We have missed a lot of time, but we are looking forward at this stage and we will make the very best use of the five days remaining of winter testing.

Thank you to all the staff for their teamwork and dedication in getting this car out today.”


Photographs Courtesy of XPB Images

Additional Press Content Courtesy of ROKiT Williams Racing