George Russell reckons twelfth was the best result he could have achieved at the British Grand Prix, particularly after losing a couple of places at the race start on Sunday afternoon.
The Williams Racing driver had started the weekend at Silverstone with a top ten appearance in Qualifying and then a ninth-place finish in the first-ever Sprint Qualifying race, but a three-place grid penalty for contact with Carlos Sainz Jr. on Saturday left him starting twelfth on the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix.
Russell lost a couple of places at the start and was left fighting against drivers in much stronger cars than he had, so he was pleased to finish as close to the top ten as he did.
“P12 was the maximum today for us,” said Russell. “We made a poor getaway initially on the first start but a really good one on the second.
“Sadly, we had already lost a few positions. When you have 50 or 60 laps in a race the true pace of the car comes out and realistically, we are still slightly slower than Alpha Tauri, Alpine and Aston Martin right now.