‘Interesting’ Friday in Sochi for George
George finishes Friday in P13 ahead of Formula One’s Russian Grand Prix.
In FP1, the British driver quickly took to the track on a set of Hard compound Pirelli tyres, attempting to optimise the dry weather ahead of the remainder of the weekend.
In his first flying run, George slotted himself into P14 with a 1:41.036 lap time before being pushed down into P18 as the rest of the field began delivering their first fast runs.
By the mid-point of the session, the Brit had improved into P13 but was unable to hold onto the position for long, dropping into P17 where he ended the morning session.
In FP2, George began the session on the Soft compound tyres, placing himself into P10 on his first run in the early stages of FP2 before being knocked back into P16.
The Brit continued to improve, delivering a 1.35.094 lap time to move him into P13 at the 30-minute mark.
A red flag for Antonio Giovinazzi halted any track action with 23 minutes remaining after the Italian made contact with the barrier.
With 16 minutes left, the track was deemed clear and track action resumed with George opting to quickly rejoin the session.
As the minutes ticked down, George was unable to improve on his previous fastest lap time and ended FP2 in P13.
George Russell – Williams Racing Driver
It was an interesting day today. The car was feeling good, but the pace wasn’t quite as good as the car was feeling. We will go away and analyse why that was overnight. That positive feeling definitely helped us on the high-fuel pace though, and hopefully that will benefit us if it is dry on Sunday. Tomorrow looks like it could be a washout, but fingers crossed that we get some running in at some point.
Our performance at Spa definitely gives us added confidence if it is a wet qualifying, but it is a very different style of track and different conditions here in Sochi so we will need to put in the hard work to achieve a good result.
If it is going to be dry on Sunday, it will be interesting as the circuit will be very green after the rain and that will make it tricky, so it is not going to be a straightforward weekend.
The final practice session for the Russian GP will get underway on Saturday September 25 from 10am BST.