George Russell’s qualifying performance at Spa-Francorchamps was made all the more remarkable by the relatively poor pace his Williams team displayed earlier in the weekend.
In the little dry running which took place at Spa prior to qualifying, Williams ranked ninth of the 10 teams, leading only Haas, whose unbroken streak of bringing up the rear in 2021 goes on.Red Bull set the pace in dry practice, with championship rivals Mercedes just four-hundredths of a second behind them. But all 10 teams were at least two seconds per lap slower than they were last year, due to the aerodynamic changes and limited dry-weather practice running this year.
Williams may well have proved slightly more competitive had qualifying taken place in the dry, as Russell has made a habit of producing impeccable Saturday performances this year. But this is hardly an unusual result for them – it’s the eighth time in 12 races they’ve ranked ninth among the teams.
The quickest pace set this weekend, by Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, was the slowest since Formula 1 introduced its current aerodynamic regulations in 2017. The cars being produced to the new regulations for the 2022 F1 season are expected to be a step slower than this year.
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2021 Belgian Grand Prix
- Spa spectators who saw no racing offered prize draw for 2022 tickets
- Ocon congratulated by past French F1 aces after breakthrough win
- ‘Wrong to award points for a couple of laps behind the Safety Car’ – Horner
- Hamilton offers “exclusive gift” to fans who attended Belgian GP wash-out
- Change rules to give points for qualifying if race can’t happen – Seidl
Rufernan (@rufernan)
29th August 2021, 13:16
We need more of this mix-up. Always get excited to watch a race when I turn the TV/stream on and see a wet track. Boring dry races with no chance of overtaking, parades mainly, are just that – boring.
erikje
29th August 2021, 16:10
If you look at the comparison between vet and russ you see, George took dry weather apex lines but lost it in the busstop chicane.
Great stuff and very embarrassing for Mercedes.
Beaten on merit, no luck involved.
Balue (@balue)
29th August 2021, 19:08
It was really great, but we’ve seen similar before like Vettel pole position Monza in Toro Rosso, and even Stroll 4th at Monza in a Williams could be mentioned.