Two British rookies have been 'extremely quick' in 2019

Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer has praised the efforts of George Russell and Lando Norris in their maiden season in the sport, describing them both as “extremely quick”.

Both drivers featured in F2 last year before being promoted, with Russell going to Williams and Norris heading to McLaren. The latter has performed significantly better, albeit in an extremely better car, but Palmer thinks the pair can both be very satisfied with their outings so far.

“Both rookies Lando Norris and George Russell might have been expected to take some time to bed in, but they have both been extremely quick from the outset,” he wrote in his BBC column.

“Norris has been faster than team-mate Carlos Sainz fairly convincingly across the first 12 races, although he trails him by a long way in the standings.

“That's partly because of some unreliability for Norris in Canada, France and Germany, while Sainz has also been very impressive in his own right, with great drives in Austria and Germany in particular. As a whole, McLaren are on the up.

The Williams man is partnered with veteran Robert Kubica, and although the Pole has actually won a point this season, he has been clearly outperformed by his younger team-mate for the most part.

“Russell has had a tougher time, because of the difficult position in which the Williams team find themselves, but he has done everything that could be expected of him.

“He [Russell] has utterly demolished Robert Kubica in the team-mate stakes except from in Germany - and that will no doubt hurt as his fellow Williams driver somehow took the team's only point so far,” he continued.

“With Williams showing more potential in Hungary, Russell will be hopeful of more eventful outings for the second half of the season to truly show his potential.”

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