The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Way off the pace but George happy with his big race debut
Formula One - Australian Grand Prix
Former Wisbech Grammar School pupil George Russell made his Formula One debut in Melbourne at the weekend and emeregd with ‘head held high’.
The 21 year-old from Tydd St Giles finished 16th out of 19 in the Williams FW 42 car with team-mate Robert Kubica further back at the rear of the field.
Russell, last year’s Formula 2 champion, said: “I’m happy that I got through it with no dramas. I got through it basically. We learned a lot.
“I left the circuit with my head held high.
“There was a problem with the car earlier in the weekend and it was confirmed during the race.
“Obviously I’m not disappointed to come out on top against my team-mate but at the end of the day I’m not interested in fighting Robert for last. We need to work to make this right.
“I’m a fighter, I’m a winner, and I’m not interested in just battling my team-mate for the back of the grid.
“Anyway it wasn’t a fair fight with Robert as he had a bit of wing damage at the start.
“For both of us, it was just a case of bring the car home and learn as much as we can.
“We’ve now got to analyse everything and put a plan together. These cars are so complex that to make such a big change it might work it might not work, we’ll see.
“We’ve just got to treat the next few races as test sessions because we’re so far behind.
“We’ve just got to understand it and almost try things to see what works and see what doesn’t, because for now it doesn’t really make much sense to try and optimise everything when we are that far off the pace.”
Race winner was Valtteri Bottas in a Mercedes.
The next race is in Bahrain on March 31.