“We do a better job than most” – George Russell is surprised himself with his consistent qualifying performances with Williams this season.
George Russell is known as ‘Mr. Saturday’ of the Formula 1 grid for a reason. He has been impressive with his qualifying performances for Williams, taking it a step further with Q3 breakthrough in the Austrian and British GPs this season.
We hope to see more of your great racing soon @Charles_Leclerc . @danielricciardo drove a great race after many days and Mr. Saturday @GeorgeRussell63 had a great qualifying, I wonder how he manages to get that pace from his Williams!!
— Himoshra D (@himoshra) July 19, 2021
But he admits to being equally surprised by this as anyone else. Unfortunately, he has not been able to convert his brilliant qualifying form into points for Williams so far.
“I don’t know how we keep managing to qualify so high. We still, on paper, have the ninth quickest car in every single session except qualifying. FP1, two, three, and the race we’re the ninth quickest but then come qualifying we manage to put the car inside the top 10 or top 12.
” I don’t know if we improve or the others make mistakes. When it’s one single lap and the pressure is on, a one-tenth [of a second] or two-tenths mistake makes a difference. Whereas in a race you get into a groove, a rhythm, you find the limit over the course of a few laps and you can make hay with that.
“We just seem to do a really good job with the procedures, getting everything right, with the tyres in the window, right place on the track, I feel confident in the car in that situation. Between us all, we do a better job than most.”
