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Tag: George Russell
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Russell misses pole to Bottas for another Mercedes front-row lockout
Sakhir, 5 Dec 2020: Valtteri Bottas took his fourth pole position of the year by edging new Mercedes team-mate George Russell by just 0.026s in qualifying for the Sakhir Grand Prix as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took third just three hundredths of a second further back.
In Q1 Verstappen was one of the last to take to the track but when he did the Dutchman quickly jumped to the top of the timesheet with a lap of 0:54.037. That remained the benchmark for the bulk of the session, but late in the session Bottas bolted on a set of soft tyres and on the4 red-banded rubber he was able to claim top spot a little over a tenth ahead of the Red Bull driver.
Behind Russell was third ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris who had to make a late charge after having an early run deleted for infringing track limits. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly took fifth place ahead of Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.
There was a slightly nervous end to the segment for second Red Bull driver Alex Albon, however. Banking on the safety of his early time of 54.620 his team kept him the garage on the final run and as rivals’ final times came in the Thai driver fell down the order. Fortunately his fall halted at P15 and he went through to Q2 eight hundredths of a second ahead of the first driver eliminated, Kevin Magnussen.
Alongside the Haas driver, Williams pair Nicholas Latifi and Jack Aitken, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen and Haas’ Pietro Fittipaldi.
In the second segment the Mercedes drivers, both Red Bulls and the Ferrari drievrs went out on medium tyres but while their initial times looked good, the gaps were too tight and in the closing stages every car went out on track again to try to ensure progress.
After moving to soft tyres, Verstappen jumped to the top of table with a lap of 53.647, a time that would hold good until the chequered flag. Behind him Pérez took second place ahead of Bottas, Sainz and Russell. Leclerc went through in sixth place ahead of Kvyat, Ricciardo and Gasly.
Out, though, went Renault’s Esteban Ocon and two hundredths of a second behind him, Alex Albon. The Thai driver had a poor second sector on his final flying lap and as the lap ebbed away he could find no improvement in the final stretch and so was eliminated in P12 ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, the Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi and the McLaren of Lando Norris.
In Q3 Verstappen initially claimed provisional pole with a lap of 53.591 with Leclerc putting in a superb lap to take a provisional front row spot. Both Mercedes drivers had run worn softs tyres on their opening run however and a second run on new rubber pushed both Bottas and Russell ahead of Verstappen. In the end Bottas’ second run time of 53.377 was good enough to take pole but while the Finn couldn’t improve on his third run it briefly looked like Verstappen might challenge it. The Dutchman set the fastest third sector but it wasn’t enough as Russell also improved and in the end Max took third place 0.026s behind Russell and just 0.056s off pole.
Behind the top three Leclerc’s time ended up being good enough for fourth and the Ferrari driver will start ahead of Pérez, Kvyat, Ricciardo, Sainz, Gasly and Stroll.
Valtteri Bottas
It’s great to be on pole, I’m happy with that, but this wasn’t my best qualifying. My second run in Q3 was decent, but I think there was still a bit of time missing in Turn 7 and 8. I was the first car out on track on the final run, so I didn’t have a tow and ultimately couldn’t improve. It was fairly close in the end, so I’m pleased it was enough for pole position. It’s great to see George in P2 and that we managed to lock out the front row for the team. I’m not really surprised to see him up there, he kept improving throughout the weekend and particularly through qualifying. We’re starting on the Medium tyre tomorrow, which should put us in a good position in terms of strategy. Max is going to have an advantage for the race start itself with the softer tyre, but we think for the race overall we’re on the better tyre. The track is quite bumpy and it’s actually fairly easy to follow other cars thanks to the tow, but we’re in the best possible position for tomorrow and are looking forward to a fun race.
George Russell
Valtteri has pushed Lewis a huge amount in qualifying over the years, so I’m really pleased to have finished Q3 just behind him and to be on the front row for tomorrow. It’s been incredibly intense with so much to learn and such a different way of driving in this car. I tried a lot of things in FP3, which didn’t go well at all. After final practice, I’d have been happy to just get through to Q3, so I was a bit nervous heading into qualifying. But I managed to get in the groove and was getting better and better every lap. Obviously, I’m a bit gutted to miss out on pole by 20 milliseconds, but if you’d told me last week that I’d be qualifying P2 on the grid, I wouldn’t have believed you. I’ve got nobody in front of me tomorrow, which I’ve not experienced for a long time. It’s going to be a really tricky race on such a short track layout, but we’re in a good position starting on the Mediums. I’ll give it my all and see what I can do.
Toto Wolff
Scoring a front row lockout in such a close qualifying session is a fantastic result for the team. This circuit is so short and with lap times below one minute, it was always going to produce very tight gaps and we saw that with less than a tenth between P1 and P3. I’m really happy with the result, Valtteri put in a good lap in Q3, which was enough for him to take pole position. George has settled in really well, particularly when you consider the circumstances, so I’m really pleased with his performance and it’s great to see him up there on the front row. This obviously puts us in a good position for tomorrow and we’re starting on the Medium tyre, which we feel is the best compound for the race. It’s going to be challenging and a bit of a step into the unknown on this track and with so many laps. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens and it’s sure to be very exciting.
2020 FIA Formula 1 Sakhir Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 53.377 9 238.956
2 George Russell Mercedes 53.403 0.026 9 238.840
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 53.433 0.056 6 238.706
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 53.613 0.236 3 237.904
5 Sergio Pérez Racing Point/Mercedes 53.790 0.413 6 237.122
6 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri/Honda 53.906 0.529 5 236.611
7 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 53.957 0.580 6 236.388
8 Carlos Sainz McLaren/Renault 54.010 0.633 6 236.156
9 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 54.154 0.777 9 235.528
10 Lance Stroll Racing Point/Mercedes 54.200 0.823 6 235.328
11 Esteban Ocon Renault 53.995 0.348 6 236.221
12 Alexander Albon Red Bull/Honda 54.026 0.379 6 236.086
13 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 54.175 0.528 8 235.437
14 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 54.377 0.730 6 234.562
15 Lando Norris McLaren/Renault 54.693 1.046 6 233.207
16 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 54.705 0.801 9 233.156
17 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 54.796 0.892 11 232.768
18 Jack Aitken Williams/Mercedes 54.892 0.988 9 232.361
19 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 54.963 1.059 11 232.061
20 Pietro Fittipaldi Haas/Ferrari 55.426 1.522 11 230.123 -
George Russell sets the pace on Friday: Sakhir Grand Prix
Sakhir, 4 Nov 2020: George Russell continued the set the pace for Formula 1’s Sakhir Grand Prix as he edged Max Verstappen by just over a tenth of a second to take top spot in Free Practice 2. Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez finished third, while Russells new Mercedes’ team-mate Valtteri Bottas only finished in P11 after having a succession of laps deleted for track limits infringements.
Red Bull Racing driver Verstappen led the way in the opening phase of running with a lap of 55.043s set on medium tyres but then as the half way point in the session approached the field retreated to the pit lane to prepare for the move to soft tyres for their qualifying simulation runs.
Pérez was the first to show his hand and he used red-banded tyres to go quickest with a lap of a 54.866s.
Mercedes’ driver then followed the Mexican out on track and Bottas looked to have usurped the Racing Point driver with lap of 54.506s, but was swiftly deleted as the Finn ran wide at Turn 8 and feel foul of track limits.
Russell then crossed the line in 54.713 and his time remained the benchmark until the flag. The Finn made more attempts at making the most of the soft tyres, but he had two more lap times deleted and was forced to settle for 11th from an earlier time set on hard tyres.
Verstappen, though, was able to put together a good lap and he dislodged Pérez from P2 with a lap of 54.841 that left him o.128 off Russell. The Dutch driver was less than happy with his RB16, however, complaining frequently about understeer.
Fourth place in the session went to Esteban Ocon, with Albon fifth in the second Red Bull. Daniil Kvyat finished sixth for AlphaTauri ahead of Stroll, Daniel Ricciardo and Pierre Gasly. The top ten order was rounded out by Carlos Sainz.
Further back it wasd tough session for Ferrari. Charles Leclerc missed the entire session with a half shaft problem, while Sebastian Vettel finished in in P16 and suffered two spins during the session, the second of which saw his spin lose control in Turn 5 and spin into the path of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen who was forced to brake hard to avoid the German.
2020 FIA Formula 1 Sakhir Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 George Russell Mercedes 54.713 48 233.121
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 54.841 0.128 43 232.577
3 Sergio Pérez Racing Point/Mercedes 54.866 0.153 52 232.471
4 Esteban Ocon Renault 54.940 0.227 50 232.158
5 Alexander Albon Red Bull/Honda 55.036 0.323 42 231.753
6 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri/Honda 55.068 0.355 58 231.619
7 Lance Stroll Racing Point/Mercedes 55.104 0.391 44 231.467
8 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 55.124 0.411 47 231.383
9 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 55.133 0.420 48 231.346
10 Carlos Sainz McLaren/Renault 55.258 0.545 39 230.822
11 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 55.321 0.608 52 230.559
12 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 55.484 0.771 54 229.882
13 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 55.533 0.820 57 229.679
14 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 55.738 1.025 49 228.834
15 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 55.784 1.071 52 228.646
16 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 55.830 1.117 43 228.457
17 Lando Norris McLaren/Renault 56.031 1.318 14 227.638
18 Pietro Fittipaldi Haas/Ferrari 56.110 1.397 56 227.317
19 Jack Aitken Williams/Mercedes 56.260 1.547 58 226.711
20 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 2 -
George Russell wins final race, clinches F2 title; Arjun Maini suffers DNF in opening chaos
Briton slices through hectic feature for win and title
Abu Dhabi, 24 Nov 2018: George Russell claimed the 2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship drivers’ title with his seventh victory of the season in an eventful feature race tonight at the Yas Marina Circuit, losing and then regaining the lead while turmoil reigned behind as he sailed to victory by three seconds over Artem Markelov and Luca Ghiotto.
It was the first night start of the season for the grid, bringing with it pressure of starting in the unknown: Russell made a poor getaway from pole, allowing a fast starting Nyck de Vries to grab the lead at turn one from the championship leader and Markelov, but there was chaos behind as DAMS duo Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi stalled, along with Sergio Sette Câmara.
Arjun Maini was unable to get around the Canadian and the pair had an enormous impact, with Nirei Fukuzumi being tagged as he went around the stricken cars: with 5 vehicles in various states of undress on the front straight there was no choice but to release the safety car, with the remainder of the field coming through the pits each time around, including the restarted Albon and Sette Câmara, for 5 laps as the marshals cleared a path for them.
When the race went live Russell was pushing de Vries all around the circuit, with Markelov in hot pursuit: both drivers ran heavily over the kerbs in their efforts to gain ground on the man ahead until the Briton headed into the pits on lap 9: an incredible out lap allowed him to blow past de Vries as he exited the pits, and a record-equalling victory was on the cards.
Markelov came in next time around, slotting in right behind de Vries on his return, handing the lead on the road to Ghiotto, one of the few to risk the alternate tyre strategy from P16 on the grid. The Italian had a 24-second lead but the rest of the field was closing, cutting 5 seconds in 6 laps before the gap started to reverse, stretch back out to 24 seconds over the next 6 laps and handing Ghiotto an unexpected opportunity at victory.
Unfortunately for the Italian, he ran too deep at the marina chicane just before his stop, picking up a 5 second time penalty for gaining an advantage and undoing his good work: he served it before his team swapped tyres on lap 26, and re-emerged in P5 on fresh rubber. He made short work of Lando Norris and was soon storming after de Vries, who had been unable to contain a charging Markelov a few laps earlier.
On the penultimate lap Ghiotto blew past de Vries at the marina, but ran out of time to improve his podium position: Russell cruised to the win, equalling the F1 feeder record of 7 wins held jointly by Stoffel Vandoorne and Charles Leclerc, by 3s ahead of Markelov, who was almost 5s to the good over Ghiotto at the flag. De Vries was disappointed with P4 ahead of Norris, with Louis Deletraz a second ahead of teammate Antonio Fuoco after he mugged Roberto Merhi for 7th on the final lap, and Tadasuke Makino and Jack Aitken rounding out the points in the final feature race of the season.
Provisional Feature Race Classification
Position Driver Team Gap 1 George Russell ART Grand Prix 2 Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 3.301 3 Luca Ghiotto Campos Vexatec Racing 8.283 4 Nyck de Vries PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing 12.046 5 Lando Norris Carlin 19.050 6 Louis Delétraz Charouz Racing System 21.964 7 Antonio Fuoco Charouz Racing System 23.633 8 Roberto Merhi Campos Vexatec Racing 27.375 9 Tadasuke Makino RUSSIAN TIME 27.840 10 Jack Aitken ART Grand Prix 32.786 11 Daniel Ticktum BWT Arden 42.485 12 Dorian Boccolacci MP Motorsport 46.303 13 Alessio Lorandi Trident 47.809 14 Alexander Albon DAMS 55.571 15 Niko Kari MP Motorsport 70.190 16 Sergio Sette Câmara Carlin 70.766 17 Sean Gelael PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing 89.971 Not Classified Nicholas Latifi DAMS DNF Nirei Fukuzumi BWT Arden DNF Arjun Maini Trident DNF -
McLaren picking up Lando is good for me says, 2018 F2 winner George Russell
Abu Dhabi, 24 Nov 2018: ART driver who started on pole in the final race, the only night race of the season and despite losing position at the start won the race to edge out Alexander Albon and won the F2 Championship. Excerpts from an interview:Q: How does it feel?George Russell: It’s a huge sigh of relief, to be honest! It’s been a very long and tough year for myself and ART, and we’ve worked really hard and probably from Baku we’ve been one of the quickest on track every single time. We’ve had a number of issues that have been hugely frustrating, but others have as well and it’s been a little difficult to get this across the line. But that pole yesterday you saw the emotions there, and obviously, we knew what we had to do today: to win it in style, and that’s what we did.What does this win mean for the team?They’re absolutely delighted because they’ve had 2 difficult years in F2/GP2 prior to this. We’ve had 2 years together because I was with them last year in GP3, and it’s been a real journey working with each other, and you probably saw the emotion at the podium from the mechanics and engineers: they’re absolutely buzzing!What have been your highlights of the year?I’d say a stand out highlight was Baku Race 2: after Race 1 we were comfortably in the lead when the safety car came out and we had a bit of an incident with Nyck de Vries at the restart and I lost the win and finished 12th, so I started Race 2 from there and came through to win, so that was redemption for the previous day. And as a whole the triple-headers are incredible: it’s a driver’s dream to go race after race after race, and it was very tough on the team and we were away from home a lot, but we had three fantastic weeks where we entered about 30 points back in the championship and came out 37 points or so ahead, so that was fantastic!Where there any moments you’d rather forget?Probably Baku Race 1, which was really disappointing because although it was the guy in P2 who had a lock up and took me out of the race I felt there was possibly something I could have done to avoid that situation, and even though everyone had my back and were telling me I wasn’t in the wrong I still had a voice telling me something slightly different, maybe I could have compromised and gone down to 2nd or 3rd and come back later. And as an overall weekend Monaco was a horrible one for me: my engine let go on my out lap for free practice, and I’d never been to Monaco before and already only had half the time, so I finished up a second from pole because I was learning the track as I was going! I crashed in both races, and the worst bit was I wasn’t even pushing when I crashed, I was stuck between a line of cars and there was no point risking anything so I was cooling off and not focusing when I hit the kerb and crashed! So that was terrible, but it was good to turn it around in the following races.Has this season taught you how to turn it around and to keep believing it can be better?What it’s certainly taught me is that there’s no negative race, because any poor race you have you learn something from it and take it forward, and I think that’s something looking back that I’m glad that our first race in Bahrain was so poor, because we had bad race pace, the car wasn’t good and I was driving the wrong way to get the most out of the tyres, and we came away from that race learning so much that we put into good use in the following races, whereas if I’d had a better race we might have thought we’re almost there and not learnt as much. So if it’s a good or a bad weekend, there’s always something to take out of it.We know now where you’re going next year, but was it frustrating that Lando Norris was announced at McLaren when you were ahead of him in the championship?Not at all actually: Lando’s announcement so early helped me to push Williams for my drive because if I was ahead of him in the championship and McLaren believed he was worthy of a Formula 1 seat it showed there were some great signs for myself, and it probably added more pressure for Williams to say we’ve got to go with George because he’s the guy who is winning F2.You were fighting for the championship up until now with Alex Albon: what was it like to fight with someone you’ve grown up with?It was great: I have a huge amount of respect for Alex, we’re great friends, and on the track we’re rivals but we’ve always had great respect for each other in Formula Renault, Formula 3 or this year. Going into this he was always the dark horse: there was always a lot of focus on me and Lando for the championship, but Alex was always there and I kept reminding journalists about this. Even in Sochi, we were doing a photoshoot with Lando and myself, and I said we need Alex here because he’s right there, and as it turned out it was Alex who was the only one who could fight me coming here! It was great, and I really hope he secures the drive that the media are speculating about for next year. -
George Russell to make F1 debut in 2019, confirms Williams Racing
George Russell, Williams Racing Driver Photoshoot Grove (Oxfordshire, England) 12 Oct 2018: Williams Racing is pleased to confirm George Russell’s appointment to a race seat from the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship with a multi-year agreement.
The 20-year-old British racing driver will make his Formula One race debut at the 2019 Australian Grand Prix and joins Williams with an impressive racing résumé.
Following a successful start to his career in karting, George stepped into single-seater racing in 2014, winning the BRDC Formula 4 Championship at his first attempt as well as becoming the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner. George progressed to the Formula 3 European Championship for two seasons and then went onto win the GP3 championship in his rookie 2017 season with two races to spare. He stepped up to the FIA Formula 2 Championship this year, which he is currently leading, whilst also fulfilling a Test and Reserve Driver role for Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport.
Speaking about the announcement, George Russell said; “It is a huge honour to join a team of Williams’ prestige and heritage. Formula One has been a life-long dream. From watching the races when I was a child, it feels surreal that I will now be lining up on the grid, alongside drivers whom I have admired for years. I would like to thank Claire and everyone at Williams for their faith in making this decision, as well as Toto and the team at Mercedes for their fantastic support throughout GP3 and Formula 2. I am incredibly excited to start working with everyone at Grove and to take my first steps as a Formula One race driver. I cannot wait for Melbourne next year and to join Williams at the start of what we all believe will be the start of an exciting new journey.”
Claire Williams, Deputy Team Principal, commented; “I am delighted to announce that George Russell will be joining Williams from the 2019 season. We have always tried to promote and develop young talent at Williams, and George fits that ethos perfectly. He is already highly regarded in the paddock and a driver whose career we have been watching for a while. In the time we have spent with him so far, we believe that he will be a great fit for our team; his commitment, passion and dedication is exactly what we need to drive the positive momentum building at Grove as we focus on the future. We are extremely excited to welcome George and work with him moving forward.”
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Russell tops Free Practice at Spielberg; Maini 17th
George Russell tops Round 6 Free Practice on Friday. Image by Zak Mauger / FIA Formula 2 Spielberg, 29 June 2018: ART Grand Prix’s George Russell opened the FIA Formula 2 Championship round at Spielberg, Austria with the quickest time in Free Practice, setting a 1:14.159 in the first 15 minutes of the session to spend the majority of the running in first place. DAMS’ Alexander Albon slotted into second place, missing out on Russell’s time by two tenths as Roberto Merhi (MP Motorsport) took third.
On a fully-dry circuit, after the rain had fallen earlier in the day, Jack Aitken (ART) was first onto the track – quickly followed by compatriots Russell and Lando Norris (Carlin). The first few drivers opened the session with reconnaissance laps, leaving Santino Ferrucci to set the first hot lap. Bringing the pace into the 1m16s, Aitken dumped the American driver out of top spot before Ferrucci reclaimed the early advantage.Albon then thrust his way past Ferrucci’s benchmark by over half a second, before Norris became the first man to break into the 1m14s. Control over the session then began to change hands multiple times; Nyck de Vries (PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing) pipped Norris for the top spot before Sergio Sette Camara (Carlin) burst past the Dutchman to lead the way. The trio was then put in the shade by Russell, who pumped in the best time of the session at the 15-minute mark to lead proceedings.Russell’s lap was under fire from Albon, but the Thai driver couldn’t surpass his championship rival despite a session-best middle sector. Looking to cement his advantage ahead of the pack, Russell began to go even quicker, but ran wide at the penultimate corner and was ultimately unable to improve.The timing boards remained stagnant thereafter as the focus switched to race pace, with further drivers getting caught out on the final sector; Artem Markelov (RUSSIAN TIME) hopping over the kerb and briefly becoming airborne, while Aitken was a frequent visitor to the run-off. In the final ten minutes, Nirei Fukuzumi (BWT Arden) came to a stop on the exit of Turn 4, prompting a virtual safety car period which ended any hopes of further improvement from the drivers – Russell remaining at the top of the session.Albon and Merhi beat Sette Camara to the top three, as de Vries completed the session fifth ahead of Norris and Antonio Fuoco of Charouz Racing System. Markelov was eighth quickest, with Aitken and BWT Arden’s Maximilian Gunther completing the top ten.2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship Round 6 – Spielberg, Austria – Free Practice ClassificationDriverTeamTimeLaps1George RussellART Grand Prix1:14.159272Alexander AlbonDAMS1:14.321253Roberto MerhiMP Motorsport1:14.418244Sergio Sette CamaraCarlin1:14.510265Nyck de VriesPERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing1:14.603246Lando NorrisCarlin1:14.631247Antonio FuocoCharouz Racing System1:14.649248Artem MarkelovRUSSIAN TIME1:14.809219Jack AitkenART Grand Prix1:14.8381910Maximilian GuntherBWT Arden1:14.8452511Santino FerrucciTrident1:14.8532812Tadasuke MakinoRUSSIAN TIME1:14.9932113Luca GhiottoCampos Vexatec Racing1:15.1222514Nirei FukuzumiBWT Arden1:15.3182115Sean GelaelPERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing1:15.3592716Louis DeletrazCharouz Racing System1:15.4012617Arjun MainiTrident1:15.4882618Ralph BoschungMP Motorsport1:15.5911819Nicholas LatifiDAMS1:15.7962120Roy NissanyCampos Vexatec Racing -
George Russell to make practice debut with Sahara Force India
Sahara Force India will give George Russell the opportunity to drive in Friday’s opening practice session ahead of this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix. The 19-year-old British racer, who was recently crowned GP3 Champion, will also drive the opening practice session of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend later this month.
George will make his debut in the VJM10 normally driven by Sergio Perez on Friday morning. In Abu Dhabi he will drive the VJM10 of Esteban Ocon.
George Russell: “I’m extremely excited to be driving in free practice for Sahara Force India in Brazil and Abu Dhabi. 2017 has already been a year full of great opportunities and to top off the season with these two outings feels fantastic. I’ve never driven the VJM10 before or driven at Interlagos, but I’m really looking forward to the challenge. I would like to say a big ‘thank you’ to Sahara Force India for this opportunity and also thank Mercedesfor their continued support.”
Vijay Mallya, Team Principal and Managing Director: “We are happy to give George this opportunity. He’s an up-and-coming talent and we’ve followed his success in GP3 closely. George has already been in our simulator several times and has worked well with the team. Now that we have secured fourth place in the championship, it’s the ideal time to look to the future and handing George his free practice debut will allow us to evaluate his potential.”
eom/press release
