George Russell experienced a promising Spanish Grand Prix after a previously difficult build-up to the sixth race of the 2020 Formula 1 World Championship at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

After marginally missing out on a place in Q2 in qualifying, George started the 66-lap event from 18th on the grid and by lining up on the Soft tyres, made inroads on the field ahead early on.

By extending his first stint on the faster yet less durable compound, George made his first of two pit stops on lap 19 in which he fitted the Mediums for a shorter second stint.

Dueling with the Alfa Romeo and Haas drivers, George ran as high as 15th overall in the race and come lap 35, boxed once more for the final time to again fit a fresh set of the Medium tyres.

By clearing Romain Grosjean late on, George finished 17th overall to complete an encouraging race for Williams Racing, with the Grove-based team appearing closer to its rivals than initially expected after improving the performance of the FW43 over the weekend.

George Russell – Williams Racing Driver

“The race was better than expected. I made a good start, overtook a couple of drivers and then spent the whole afternoon battling. I managed to overtake Romain (Grosjean) on track which was nice, then I had a nice little tussle with Kimi (Raikkonen). We used an alternative strategy to our main rivals and it didn’t pay off, but we had to in our position. There are definitely positives to take away, so I’m relatively pleased with this afternoon.”

With the Spanish Grand Prix marking the final leg of Formula 1’s second triple-header, George will next race at the iconic Spa-Francorchamps Circuit in Belgium from August 28-30.