Williams making the most from ‘mishaps’ of others

Michelle Foster 16 Sep 2021 10:30 AM

George Russell tugging his gloves. Italy September 2021

Williams driver George Russell pulling off his gloves as he looks to the side. Italy September 2021

In the points in three of the last four grands prix, George Russell feels Williams are doing well in capitalising on “other people’s mishaps”.

Unable to score a single point for Williams in two-and-a-half years, Russell now has 15 with the Grove team, all scored in the last four races.

The team brought home its first double points-haul since 2018 at the Hungarian Grand Prix, both Nicholas Latifi and Russell boosted up the order by the first lap carnage.

One race later, the Belgian GP, it was another two-car haul, this time with Russell on the podium after a blinder in qualifying put him P2 on the grid, and he remained P2 behind the Safety Car-led race.

Failing to score at a Dutch GP that didn’t see much action, Russell was back inside the top ten at Monza, a race in which only 15 drivers saw the chequered flag.

“Points again!” Russell said to the official F1 website after his Monza P9. “Yeah three in the last four races, pretty crazy.

“I think what the team do incredibly well is making the most of other people’s mishaps, let’s say, strategically and capitalising from it. Because we know where the pace of the car is but we’ve now found ourselves three of the last four races in the points, probably without the pace to do so.

“So, as a team we’ve definitely done something right and it fills me with a lot of pride to be able to keep on bringing these results home.”

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— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) September 13, 2021

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Scoring at the Hungarian Grand Prix was a welcome confidence boost, not only for the drivers but the team as a whole.

Williams have been bottom of the Constructors’ Championship log three years running, failing to score a single point last season and just one the year before.

With 22 on the board this season, the team is up to eighth in the standings, a seemingly comfortable 19 ahead of ninth-placed Alfa Romeo.

He said: “Definitely having scored those first points in Budapest there’s almost a relief off everybody’s shoulders and we can just go out week-in, week-out and just try and maximise the package, maybe roll the dice slightly and try a few new things just to try and find more performance and get a better result.

“They just keep on coming, and we’re just doing things right now.

“Everybody’s got confidence, week-after-week we’ve just got this momentum. So really pleased we’re on this journey at the moment.”