George Russell entered the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix with much (unwarranted) speculation over his 2021 future. However, following a very swift response from Williams Racing Acting Team Principal Simon Roberts during the Friday Press Conference, it was clear that the talented Brit is going nowhere. Then, as Saturday arrived it was time for ‘Mr Saturday’ to hit the headlines again but this time for his on-track ability. Following Saturday’s Q3, George Russell claimed 13^th position on the starting grid. As a result of this, the young Brit maintained his record of outqualifying his teammate in every F1 qualifying session.  The tally stands at 34 sessions and it looks certain to continue a while loner.

The pace of Williams’ star driver was not lost on the man himself as shown in George Russell’s comments to Sky F1 in a post-qualifying media commitment:

“We weren’t expecting Q2 today, and to come away out-qualifying Racing Point and Ferrari, it’s just mega,” Russell told Sky F1.

“I don’t know how we keep pulling it off, to be honest, on the Saturdays. And it’s such a thrill, driving tracks like this is such a thrill.”

This staring place ensured that George Russell would start Sunday’s Grand Prix ahead of Scuderia Ferrari’s former talisman Sebastian Vettel. Not only this but following a very uncharacteristic qualifying showing from Lance Stroll in the Racing Point, the Canadian racer also finds himself starting behind the impressive Brit. As a result of this, Russell’s unfancied FW43 has outqualified a car which looks less and less like a ‘Pink Mercedes’ as the season draws on.

George Russell aka ‘Mr Saturday’ brought much joy to Williams who are still yet to score a point in 2020. Unfortunately, Russell’s teammate Nicholas Latifi was unable to find similar pace and as a result of getting knocked out in Q1 will start in 19^th position on Sunday. The reason for this was due to a lack of data gathered by Latifi’s side of the garage at the circuit which is making its first return to the calendar since 2006:

Speaking exclusively to the Williams Racing website, Nicholas Latifi revealed: “We had a tricky practice session this morning that was very interrupted as I had a brake-by-wire issue on my qualifying simulation,”

“We lost quite a lot of time unfortunately and we had to make some quite big decisions on where to go with the car without having many references…It wasn’t ideal going into qualifying, but I was satisfied with my laps. I closed the gap from practice and was only a tenth and a half off making it into Q2 in qualifying, so I can be pleased with that. It is an amazing track to drive, I am looking forward to the race tomorrow and we will try and grab a good result.”

The delight the drivers have driving around the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari is evident. George Russell made clear on his team radio that F1 needs more tracks like this on the calendar. It is clear how much of a difference the driver makes on performance in Imola and as such there is every chance that Mr Saturday could become Mr Sunday with his first Formula One Grand Prix points on Sunday.

For a man who started the week with question marks over his future, such an outcome on Sunday would be a perfect way for George Russell to end his week in style.

https://www.motorlat.com/notas/f1/17658/f1-alphatauri-retains-pierre-gasly-for-2021-f1-season