Portuguese GP: Challenging race for Williams Racing


By Williams Racing
May 3 2021

Despite having an encouraging qualifying for the 2021 Portuguese GP the Williams Racing Team would go onto suffer a race that was so incredibly challenging for both George Russell and Nicholas Latifi. The pair would finish in 16th and 18th after a race that saw both drivers suffer from issues with the FW43B while running in traffic. The track conditions on the day brought out the performance issues that the car still appears to have. With just a week before the next race it is going to difficult for the team to address these but it may be a case that the next track maybe one that will suit the Williams cars, if not it is going to be another difficult weeeknd.

 
  Williams Racing Portuguese GP Race Review
 
Latifi
 

Race Notes
• George Russell finished 16th and Nicholas Latifi 18th in the Portuguese Grand Prix
• George started 11th and Nicholas 18th, both on the medium Pirelli tyre
• Both drivers ran a one-stop strategy, with Nicholas pitting for the hard compound on lap 24 and George following suit on lap 28.

Latifi 

Nicholas Latifi:
"It was difficult out there today. We always struggle with the opening laps and that was evident with George starting much higher up and then after the first few laps he was back where I was. It feels very on edge and we need to do some analysis to try and find a solution. There is definitely something we are missing at the moment, and we need to try and improve it ahead of Barcelona."

 
Russell

George Russell:
"After yesterday we were all hoping for more, but that was an incredibly challenging race. Our car does not suit these conditions, when the wind picks up it becomes a real struggle. It’s a shame but the positives are that we know the strengths and the weaknesses of the car, and so we just have to hope that moving forward we get some slightly calmer conditions which allow us to demonstrate those strengths."

Robson

Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance:
"Today was very difficult and we simply didn’t have the pace. We found it difficult in the conditions today and although we held our position at the start, it was much more difficult on the medium tyre following the early safety car. The car has shown some good traits this weekend, but we are still lacking the stability that we need to be able to race in the pack. With the tyres hard to keep in their working window, once you start losing places, it is very difficult to recover.

We now have a quick turnaround to get the team to Barcelona ready for the next race. It will be interesting to see how the car behaves at a circuit that we know well."

 

Russell

 
Latifi
 

Track: Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain
Lap Length: 5.412 km / 3.363 miles

Weather: Hot and gusty temperatures
Temperature: Air: 21°C Track: 26-29°C

POS

DRIVER

TEAM

Time (Fastest Lap)

Grid

1

L Hamilton Mercedes 1:34:31.421 (1:20.933)

2

2 M Verstappen Red Bull +29.148 (1:20.695) 3
3 V Bottas Mercedes +33.530 (1:19.865) 1
         
16 G RUSSELL Williams Racing +1 LAP (1:22.654) 11
18 N LATIFI Williams Racing +2 LAPS (1:23.155) 18
 
Russell
 

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Portuguese GP: Challenging race for Williams Racing
Discussion started by Williams F1 , 03/05/2021 06:40
Williams F1
03/05/2021 06:40
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