Lando Norris met with "every driver's worst nightmare" - George Russell

Russell, Norris, Williams, McLaren, RussianGP — Photo: © LAT Images

Russian Grand Prix

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Norris met with "every driver's worst nightmare" - Russell

Norris looked on course to claim a first F1 win before being cruelly denied

Ewan Gale

Monday 27 September 2021 08:00

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George Russell conceded he felt "really bad" for Lando Norris after the McLaren driver met with "every driver's worst nightmare" at the Russian Grand Prix.

Norris looked on course to claim his first F1 victory at the Sochi Autodrom to round off his stunning form this season, only for rainfall late in the race and a decision to stay on slicks wrecking his victory hopes in heartbreaking fashion.

Williams driver Russell experienced similar pain driving for Mercedes at the Sakhir Grand Prix last year when a maiden win was thwarted by a late tyre mix up in the pits and a subsequent puncture.

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"It is every driver's worst nightmare, leading a race and the rain starts coming down," Russell told Sky Sports F1.

"I feel really bad for him. I think I have been there, I know how it feels. He will have more victories to come."

Russell started third after a stellar qualifying lap in damp conditions on Saturday and eventually secured a point for Williams.

"I think we held our own, made no silly mistakes and that was the race throughout really," he added.

"I don't think we could have done much better on the slick tyres, maybe slightly more in the wet. Overall it was a good race."

Russell remains "realistic" over Williams prospects

Russell remained in the top three for the opening stages of the race but was forced into an early stop as graining affected tyres and triggered early stops for competitors around him.

The British driver was able to jump back into the points to 10th with a switch to intermediates at the end but believes the use of all four sets of the tyre in qualifying prevented any further progress.

"To be honest, given our car pace, P8 was the maximum, maybe slightly higher," he explained.

"We did a pretty good job managing everything and then when the rain came, we pitted at the right point but we really, really struggled.

"I don't know whether it was because we were on old tyres, we used every single set of inters and definitely a few of the cars around us who were on new sets of inters were much much faster than us.

"Nevertheless, it was still P10. I would have taken that again prior to the weekend, obviously not what we wanted from P3 but we have to be realistic as well."