Another failure in George Russell’s quest for points
Starting 8th, George Russell was hoping and had the opportunity to score his first points with Williams, but Fernando Alonso had other plans. The Spaniard mentioned in an interview that he felt a little sad to have deprived him of that point.
He was still so close. This Sunday, George Russell once again failed to score points. The British driver has been trying to get them since his debut in Formula 1 with Williams.
Since the beginning of the season, Russell has failed 3 times to open his account. At Imola, while fighting for ninth place with Valtteri Bottas, their duel turned into a crash, destroying his chances of scoring points. Just last week, the Briton was once again in a good position, but a mechanical problem ended his hopes.
This weekend, for the second race at the Red Bull Ring, the Briton did the necessary in qualifying to secure a good place on the grid. With the 9th time, he took advantage of the penalty imposed on Sebastian Vettel to start 8th. His start is bad and he loses several places, ending up 13th.
He then took advantage of his team’s very good strategy and some magnificent overtakings, such as the one on Lance Stroll, to climb back up in the rankings. With 10 laps to go, he was closing the points zone. However, he was closely followed by Fernando Alonso, who was determined to score points after his frustration in qualifying.
The Briton defended as best he could, sometimes even at the limit (which earned him a summons by the commissioners), but the Spanish veteran found the flaw four laps from the end. Quicker, Alonso pulled away and left no chance to Russell, who once again narrowly missed his quest.
A little sad
As he overtook George Russell for the 10th place, Fernando Alonso made sure to comfort the British driver once back in the pits. The moment was captured by the camera of Antonio Giovinazzi’s Alfa Romeo. We can see the Alpine driver reaching Russell and embracing him.
George Russell wanted a point… Instead, he got a hug from the man who dubbed him a future champion 🤗
So tantalisingly close to that first point for Williams#AustrianGP 🇦🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/JwTdYRf5YZ
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 4, 2021
In the interview, the double world champion talked about his race and in particular his battle with the Williams driver. The Spaniard admitted that he felt a little sad to have deprived him of that point.
« This point was gold for him (George Russell) as well as for us, after starting 14th. It was nice. In a way, when I saw it was George, I felt a little sad that this battle was against him. I think he will have the opportunity to step onto the podium and fight for victories in the future, if he goes to Mercedes. I enjoyed it. Scoring a point starting 14th was not planned, as our simulations were a bit more pessimistic than tenth place.
Frustration was still present for the Briton after the race, as he explained in an interview: “We are all doing very good job and it’s extremely close. Twelfth in France, eighth last week before our retirement, eleventh today – all races where all cars from the top teams were at the finish. The only retirement today was Ocon, who was behind us. It’s coming, but it’s frustrating.”
During his brief stint at Mercedes during the Sakhir Grand Prix, he was able to open his account, but his goal remains to score points with Williams.
