F1 | Russell realistic after qualifying in Monza: “We have a difficult weekend ahead of us”

Interviewed by the official Williams website at the end of Friday on the Monza track, scene of the next Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix, George Russell did not say he was optimistic about Williams' chances for the rest of the weekend, specifying how the feeling with the car does not meet expectations at the start of the weekend. Despite the great work in yesterday morning's FP1, the Briton was unable to extract the maximum potential from the afternoon's qualifying sessions, an aspect which will force him to start from the less "noble" positions on the starting grid (15th).

“It was a really difficult day and at the end of this first day we weren't able to show the competitiveness we hoped for before the weekend,” said George Russell. “Since FP1 we haven't found the right tire usage window and this is compromising our entire weekend. We did a good job during qualifying, as the team sent me out on track at the right time, but we couldn't have achieved more than that. In view of the Sprint Qualifying we can consider ourselves more optimistic, but in general I believe that it will not be an easy weekend. We must try to exploit all the opportunities we will have."

Here are Nicholas Latifi's assessments: “The car didn't perform ideally in FP1 and the short track time before qualifying certainly didn't help us. We managed to make some good changes before the official session, but overall we didn't get what we hoped for, even if this track doesn't suit the characteristics of our car. It's frustrating to lose Q2 by such small margins. Here you can overtake and I hope that the compromises made in terms of set-up will help us recover positions."