"Impatient" Aitken forced to contact Williams over Russell stand-in drive

Sakhir Grand Prix

"Impatient" Aitken forced to contact Williams over Russell stand-in drive

Aitken will fill the seat left by Russell as the regular moves to Mercedes in place of Hamilton

Ian Parkes & Ewan Gale

Thursday 3 December 2020 18:04

Williams stand-in driver Jack Aitken has revealed how his "impatience" led to him contacting the team over a possibility of a race drive amidst the merry-go-round triggered by Lewis Hamilton's positive Covid-19 test.

Williams' regular driver George Russell has made the step up to Mercedes for at least the Sakhir Grand Prix this weekend, allowing Aitken to fill the void.

Aitken, who said he felt "pretty good" following the announcement of his impending Formula 1 debut, explained the timeline of events that led to him getting his shot in place of Russell, and his desire to discover what was happening.

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"It has been a busy 48 hours or so," said Aitken. "I am happy now that everything is sorted and I can just focus on getting the job done so [I am] really excited.

"Such was my impatience that I actually contacted the team and said 'What's going on?' That was on Tuesday afternoon and they told me 'We're assessing the situation, we will get back to you, just sit tight,' so I sat tight for several hours.

"Eventually, in the morning on Wednesday confirmation came through and it was announced half an hour later or something. It all happened quite quickly."

Williams head into the second race of a Bahrain double-header with knowledge the event on the outer circuit could provide the best opportunity for its first points of the season given the expected chaotic nature of the sub-one minute layout.

Whilst Aitken believes the team goal remains unaltered in the wake of having to reshuffle, he remained grounded on initial aspirations going into the weekend.

"[The goal is] just to get up to speed as soon as possible," he insisted. "The goals for the team haven't changed.

"We want to be trying to get up into the fight with the midfield runners and hopefully if there is a bit of chaos and luck, maybe some points. We are all going to be pushing for the same as always."