George Russell will start today’s Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps from second position after an incredible qualifying performance that stunned F1.
With Williams’ FW43B having prices over the course of the season that it’s probably the 9th quickest of the 10 cars on the grid, George’s qualifying endeavours – a regular in Q2 and even Q3 for the top ten drivers – of late have impressed sufficiently to earn him the nickname ‘Mr Saturday’.
And so, when in the dying stages of a rain interrupted Q3 session at Spa, George put in two purple sectors – fastest of everyone – and looked like he might secure pole position, we watched on almost with a sense of disbelief.
That increased when the quick guys – Hamilton, Perez, Bottas et all followed across the line and failed to better Russell’s time, until only Championship hopeful Max Verstappen was left with a chance of toppling the Williams man.
Unfortunately, Verstappen was quick enough to deny Russell his first ever pole position in his 50th Grand Prix.
Second place is much more than any of us could ever have hoped for, and as such is more than an adequate consolation for narrowly missing out on pole.
Will George be able to translate his best ever Williams start into a decent finish in the Grand Prix? Well, he’s traditionally fared less well in races, so it’s going to be tricky to maintain position in the race. However, Spa remains wet and so anything is possible if he manages to keep it on the road (easier said than done!)
Come on George!!
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