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Russell: Williams so far behind, races are like test sessions

Russell: Williams so far behind, races are like test sessions

20-03-2019 08:30
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Bobby Vincent

George Russell believes his new team Williams are so far behind the rest on the grid that actual race weekends will be treated as "test sessions".

After a near-crisis two weeks of pre-season testing in Barcelona for the former world champions, the first race in Australia rather unsurprisingly saw Williams occupy the bottom two places on the grid.

Russell and his new team-mate Robert Kubica struggled all weekend with a fundamental flaw discovered on its FW42 car, and with the departure of technical director Paddy Lowe following the delay to its new car in Barcelona - things haven't exactly gone to plan for Williams so far in 2019.

The F2 world champion has insisted it is hard to compare the FW42 against any other team's car, claiming he can only compare himself to Kubica this season, because of how far the British team are behind.

"From a personal perspective, you've only got your team-mate to compare against," Russell said, who finished a lap and a place in front of his Polish team-mate.

"Obviously, I'm not disappointed to come out on top, but at the end of the day, I'm not interested in fighting him for last. We need to work to make this right. Personally, I can take a bit of satisfaction from this weekend. I think (Saturday) was a reall great day for me.

"I left the circuit with my head held high. (In the race), we knew what we were in for. It wasn't a fair fight with Robert as he had a bit of damage at the start. For both of us, it was just bring the car home and learn as much as we can."