Russell cautious on Williams' prospects for Silverstone double-header

George Russell is keeping his expectations in check ahead of a double dose of home races at Silverstone, insisting the track could prove challenging for Williams' FW43.

Russell extracted the most of his car's package last time out in Hungary where the Briton impressed in qualifying by making the Q2 cut for the second time in succession.

The step-up in performance at Williams this season is undeniable, thanks to a 2020 design that is a big improvement over its predecessor.

Williams has already implemented a series of updates of its FW43, but both Russell and teammate Nicholas Latifi will receive the full package at Silverstone.

• Williams says new FW43 upgrade offers 'clear advantage'

Yet, the former isn't "overly sure" about his chances of racing among the second tier of F1's midfield in the next couple of weeks.

"I think on paper Hungary is going to be the circuit that suits us most and our car characteristics most;" explained Russell. "I think that was proven in qualifying.

"I think our performance in Austria qualifying round one was probably the true pace of the car in a dry condition, obviously race two was wet and things were all mixed up.

"So, ultimately, I think our goal and our realistic competitors are the Alfas and the Haas and fighting to get into Q2 following on from these three events."

While Williams and Russell have impressed in qualifying in the last two races, the Briton has been frustrated by a significant drop-off in pace of the FW43 on race day.

Uncovering the reason for the shortfall and solving it is a priority for Williams insists Russell.

"Our race pace is really poor for whatever reason relative to our qualifying pace," he said.

"It’s something that was not the case last year and something that we need to get on top of.

"It’s a bit strange at the moment, we’ve had three races now, two very good qualifying [sessions], one good qualifying and three very poor races - that had not been the case last year.

"Last year our race pace was better than our qualifying pace.

"Our car is very sensitive to following others and becomes very difficult to control when following others and obviously on a Saturday you’re not following others.

"So, that’s the only understanding we think we can take away from this."

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