George ends Formula One’s inaugural Qatar Grand Prix in P17 after a late puncture drops him down the grid.

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As the cars filled onto the grid, George lined up in P15 on a set of Soft compound Pirelli tyres to begin the Qatar Grand Prix.

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When the lights went out, George began his fight with Antonio Giovinazzi as the pair battled it out for P14 on the opening lap.

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George was able to maintain his P15 position until lap seven of the 58 lap race when he was overtaken by the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo but was quickly able to gain three places into P13 due to early pitstops.

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On lap 18, George pitted to switch from the Soft to the Hard tyres, re-emerging in P20 behind the Haas duo.

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George began to steadily gain places, moving into P14 by lap 36 as he tried to chase down Valtteri Bottas.

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As the race entered the final stages, George dropped into P16 after being caught by Yuki Tsunoda and Kimi Räikkönen before a late puncture on lap 51 forced him down into P19 and into the pits, switching to a set of Soft tyres as he attempted to salvage some positions.

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George was able to end the race in P17 after a puncture for his teammate Nicholas Latifi.

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George Russell – Williams Racing Driver

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We had an aggressive strategy today and we were trying to push our final stint as long as possible. With the really high-speed right-hand corners at this circuit, the tyres were always going to be pushed to their limit but we had to be that aggressive to be in the fight with the Alfa Romeos. Unfortunately, the left front tyre punctured a few laps from the end so it's one of those things. It was a shame for our race to end that way but ultimately, it's nothing gained nothing lost, as our nearest rivals didn't score any points.

Formula One will return for the inaugural Saudi Arabia Grand Prix with FP1 on Friday, December 3 from 1:30 PM GMT.

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