How Russell's 'career best stint' broke Williams' points duck

George Russell has explained how the "best stint of my whole career" enabled him to record his first points finish with Williams.

Russell took advantage of the lap one chaos to climb to 8th after starting the race 17th.

On the restart, Russell led the field out of the pitlane but as he had gained positions illegally, his team instructed him to fall back to his original position.

Although Russell fought off the advances of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen for the majority of the 70 laps, it was his second stint on hard tyres the Briton labelled as his 'career best'.

"It was an incredible stint on our side of the garage the second stint," said Russell. "It was probably the best stint of my whole career.

“Keeping Daniel Ricciardo behind, keeping Max behind, closing the gap by 20 seconds to the cars ahead…it was exceptional.

“I fought with everything I have, as I do every single race but finally came home with something.”

Russell sheds 'unexpected' tears

Last year, Russell scored his first F1 points with Mercedes when deputising for Lewis Hamilton at the Sakhir Grand Prix.

This latest result, however, hit the 23-year-old on an emotional level he had not foreseen.

“I literally just shed a tear which I was not expecting," explained Russell.

"I probably wouldn’t have shed a tear if I won my first race, to be honest. That’s how much it means.

“It means more than I can put into words because of the ride we have been through this past three years."

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