Why "bloody good" George Russell isn't affecting Nicholas Latifi

Williams

Why "bloody good" Russell isn't affecting Latifi

Russell leads Latifi 22-0 in qualifying

Ian Parkes & Ewan Gale

Monday 31 May 2021 15:02

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Williams head of vehicle performance Dave Robson believes the reason George Russell is undefeated in qualifying against Nicholas Latifi is simply that he is "bloody good".

In the 22 races since Latifi joined the F1 grid, Russell has out-qualified the Canadian on every occasion even though he has at times trailed his team-mate through practice.

Asked what Latifi had to do to get the better of 'Mr Saturday' as Russell has come to be known, Robson replied: "Part of that is covered by [the fact] George is frankly bloody good.

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"[Monaco] looked like an opportunity for Nicholas to be honest. He was strong all through Thursday, but he struggled a little bit with the tyre troubles [on Saturday].

"The touch on the wall wasn't great for his momentum and the way you have to chip away so that probably didn't help.

"He has got to keep doing what he is doing. He has had a couple of good weekends. He has definitely got to keep doing what he is doing and his opportunity will come."

Latifi frustrated - but not by Russell

Such a vast difference in performance would be enough to harm the confidence of any driver, yet Robson indicated Latifi is comfortable improving his own fortunes as he continues to acclimatise to the sport.

"It doesn't seem to [affect him]," added Robson. "We don't typically talk about it in the sense that he just concentrates on doing the best job he can with the car he has got, and what George does on the other side is out of his control.

"So I don't think it affects him too much, to be honest. I am sure he is frustrated by it but it is not so much because George out-qualifies him but because he knows he probably could have done a slightly better job.

"I think he is frustrated by his own performance but the battle with George less so I think."