George Russell downplayed any disappointment at failing to score in the Austrian Grand Prix, saying “you get what you deserve” after finishing 11th.
The third-year driver started in eighth place, his highest ever grid position as a Williams driver, but immediately dropped out of the top 10 on the opening lap.He rose up a few places to get back into a points position, but lost out on scoring Williams’ first point since 2019 when Alpine’s Fernando Alonsopassed him towards the end of the race.
“It sort of reminded me of my junior days when you were battling wheel-to-wheel week in, week out,” Russell said in response to a question from RaceFans.
“I guess the biggest thing was just experience. And getting that feeling doing it in a Formula 1 car is very different with all the downforce and dirty air. So you’re just gaining experience. It feels a bit strange, I’ve been here three years now and I haven’t had that many battles.”
After spending many laps over the past two races at the Red Bull Ring in the top 10, Williams have been encouraged by the pace of their FW43B car. But a power unit problem last time out meant Russell’s 11th place finish in today’s Austrian Grand Prix stands as the best of his season, and joint best of his Williams career, and he was not downbeat about missing that elusive point this weekend.
“Not that disheartened, to be honest, because ultimately you get what you deserve and those guys were faster than us,” he added to RaceFans.
The Williams driver was still running in the top 10 with four laps to go when he lost the final points position to Fernando Alonso.
“I did everything I could,” said Russell, “but ultimately the speed Fernando had, he was always going to catch, he was absolutely flying.
“He was unfortunate yesterday, he probably should qualified in the top five and I guess P11 was the maximum today.”
Russell’s final result position may change, as five drivers who finished ahead of him are under investigation for failing to slow for double waved yellow flags. However Russell is also being investigated for an incident involving Kimi Raikkonen.
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erikje
4th July 2021, 17:41
But again he messed up his start. Still something to work on. He really deserved that point though. Good to see Alonso taking care of George. I am not an Alonso fan, but that was nice sportsmanship.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
4th July 2021, 17:59
His launch didn’t look so bad. I think it was more his positioning into T1 and T3 that did the main damage. T1, he probably had no choice, but he seemed quite coy into T3. Probably scared to lose a wing on the 1st lap. Just a shame really.
d0senbrot (@d0senbrot)
4th July 2021, 19:14
@eurobrun
With Gasly moving across to the inside and locking up, he opened up a gap for Stroll to pull alongside, while Russell had to back off a bit. Maybe he could have been a bit more aggressive into T3 as Gasly was pretty early on the brakes, try to dive the inside, but that would have been a risky move.
But as expected, the ATs and Ferrari were no match for Williams. And Alonso being Alonso meant that even Tsunoda shooting himself in the foot was not enough to finish inside the top 10.
Jesper (@jesperfey13)
4th July 2021, 17:43
Get him in the merc a.s.a.p
elchinero (@elchinero)
4th July 2021, 18:39
“You get what you deserve” … that’s what we said when we got Trump!
John
4th July 2021, 21:18
And when we got Biden:)
MacLeod (@macleod)
5th July 2021, 8:07
His first try in Mercedes wasn’t great either started on P2 and ended at P8 i think he is cursed to do never beter then Saterday.
GechiChan (@gechichan)
5th July 2021, 15:50
I disagree. His first and only time in the Merc was very good and that outcome was no fault of his own: Russell overtook Bottas and lead the race for most of the time, until the team put on a mixed set of tires on his car. And after he rebounded from this blunder to 2nd, with only Perez slightly ahead, he had a puncture.
But I agree that he looks a bit cursed during important races.
Dave
5th July 2021, 18:47
Breaking curses has always been a thing for every single driver who achieved a crucial result for their team. And to this day it still is and will always be a thing.
Dave
4th July 2021, 18:10
Bahrain are always welcome to go outer again. Luck can decrease or increase for some. Rebuilding this team is always a thing in F1 games.
Balue (@balue)
4th July 2021, 19:31
Shame to miss the point. Great fight with Alonso though.
Jockey Ewing
4th July 2021, 22:15
Nice to hear that he is not sad, and that he is not satisfied at the same time.
And sad, because imo it is true that at the last two seasons, he not had the opportunity to have frequent battles, as his teammates were not so strong, and the car was not really capable to do more than qualifying for the last row. So even trying to overtake someone at the start is not really profitable in such case, adds some risk, and the position gained is likely lost in a few laps.
Imo for teams with smaller budget race pace is harder to enhance than one lap pace, F1 is more about race pace and being reliable now, and their package likely has more immaturity in tyre handling, cooling and similar things which would be crucial to have good sustained pace. So the backmarkers are having less chance at modern F1 to achieve a “lucky”, one-off result than the chance they had at previous eras, because higher reliability requirements means to deliver the performance more consistently. So their weaker pace is quite much cemented, just like the better results for those who can spend more, the levels of performance of the different teams is more distinct.
Imo even if Williams made a good step forward at this season, they can not really count on more or on better results at the upcoming tracks with more flow, the point and turn Red Bull Ring fitted them quite well. So sadly, they still need a really chaotic race to score. Probably at the Hungaroring, but the cooling can be an issue there. It was nice by Russell.
GeeMac (@geemac)
5th July 2021, 5:32
I’m a huge Williams fan so Russell missing out on points again really hurts, but as someone who is also a fan of Valtteri Bottas I have to say I’m feeling a bit justified in my scepticism that Russell is ready for the step up to Mercedes.
Missing out on points yesterday was entirely Russell’s doing, he made a terrible start and that basically made it a certainty he wouldn’t score. Had he just held position on lap 1 the race would have came to him on the mediums and P7/P8 would have been well and truly on. Mercedes can’t afford that sort of error. Granted Bottas was all at sea in Baku, but the job he did today (and in Monaco until the pit stop disaster) was exactly what Mercedes need…pick up the pieces when Hamilton doesn’t. It was a very polished performance regardless of the issue Hamilton had.
If I was Toto, I wouldn’t be reaching for George’s contract just yet…
F-Duct (@)
5th July 2021, 9:15
I think Hungary will be a really good opportunity for points, they have went well there in qualifying the last couple of seasons and if he can repeat that he is more likely to be able to hold onto a position around there
jimbo
5th July 2021, 10:43
Did I see pre-race he complained something was badly wrong with rear and investigation found nothing amiss … what happened ?