Russell - Bahrain a "worst-case scenario" for Williams

George Russell believes the Bahrain Grand Prix was a "worst-case scenario" for Williams despite the Briton primarily competing in the midfield in the Formula 1 season-opener.

After finishing last in the constructors' championship in each of the past three years, Williams has vowed it will not be writing off this season to chase the opportunities presented by the new wide-sweeping regulations changes from next year.

Russell again sparkled in qualifying by reaching Q2 to line up 15th on the grid, and the Briton backed up his pace in Sunday's race as he crossed the line in 14th after running inside the points at one stage.

Given the now known wind sensitivity of the FW43B, Russell said: "I’d like to think it was a worst-case scenario so fingers crossed it can only get better.

“It was nice to be racing. I had a good little tussle at the beginning, made a few places, lost a few places.

"I forgot how tricky it was in that battle with all the cars surrounding you but I thought it was a well-executed race."

Although team-mate Nicholas Latifi was forced to retire late on with a "suspected boost leak" the Canadian was equally upbeat about the overall performance of the car.

"I was pleasantly surprised at how the car felt in the race," said Latifi. "We were expecting...I was expecting something a bit more tricky to handle.

"Obviously, the wind was a bit less than expected but nonetheless still windy and irrespective of the issue that caused us to retire, I was actually surprised by the drivability of the car.

“It's still not where we wanted to be but it’s better than expected so I think that’s positive going forward.”

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