F1 | Williams, George Russell: “I hope for rain”

The start of the Hungarian weekend can be defined as totally positive for Williams, which finally sheds the label of eternal last. The two drivers from the Grove team, Nicholas Latifi and George Russell, managed to place themselves in fifteenth and eighteenth position respectively during the first free practice session. It is difficult to judge the FW43's race pace times, due to the track conditions during the afternoon: the pouring rain, in fact, forced all the teams to run on the full wet compound, and the two Williams only did an installation lap.

"I think we started from a good point this morning, and we did a good qualifying simulation. The pace was good, as was our ranking, so I'm satisfied” declared Nicholas Latifi, fifteenth.

"In the rest of the first free practice session we tried different set-ups to experiment. We learned a lot, but we couldn't do who knows what during FP2. We haven't shot at all, apart from a few installation laps, so we'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out what conditions we'll be shooting in".

George Russell is also optimistic, hoping for rain.

"This morning, on a dry track, the car performed well, nothing exceptional, but we concentrated on the different set-ups. Our base is good and we know what we can expect from the car, so we have experimented to bring out even more performance. In the afternoon, however, I only did an out-lap, but I was still comfortable with the car. I'm sure it will be a hectic session if conditions stay these, but I think that's what we need, to mix things up a bit. I'm waiting for tomorrow, I'm ready together with the whole team".