In his final year at Williams before stepping up to Mercedes, George Russell scored for the first time as a Williams driver and picked up his first podium finish. Here’s Russell’s 2021 Formula 1 season in statistics!
RACE STATS
| Championship Position: | 15th |
| Total Points: | 16 |
| % of teams’ points scored: | 70% |
| Points Scoring Grands Prix: | 4 |
| Best finish: | 2nd (Belgium) |
| Number of starts: | 22 |
| Number of non-finishes: | 6 |
| Number of finishes: | 16 |
| Laps Led: | 0 |
| Laps Complete: | 1141 |
| % of Laps Complete: | 87.97% |
| Distance Covered: | 5608.523km |
| Laps Raced in the Top 10: | 219 |
| Laps Raced in the Top 5: | 13 |
| Laps Raced in the Top 3: | 13 |
| Races gained positions in: | 6 |
| Races lost positions in: | 5 |
| Finished where started: | 5 |
QUALIFYING STATS
| Q3 Appearances: | 4 |
| Q2 Exits: | 15 |
| Q1 Exits: | 3 |
| Best Qualifying Position: | 2nd (Belgium) |
| Worst Qualifying Position: | 17th (x3) |
| Average Qualifying Position: | 12.64 |
| Average Grid Position: | 13.00 |
| Beat team-mate in how many qualifying sectors: | 56 |
| Beaten by team-mate in how many qualifying sectors: | 10 |
| Average gap to team-mate per sector in qualifying: | -0.262s |
A STATISTIC FROM EVERY GRAND PRIX
2021 BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX
George Russell became the 30th driver to record five fourteenth place finishes in their Formula 1 career. Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, Valtteri Bottas, Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly are the other drivers on the 2021 grid to have achieved the feat.
2021 EMILIA ROMAGNA GRAND PRIX
Crashing out of the race with Valtteri Bottas, George Russell was the only driver to record the same result at Imola this year as he did in 2020. Russell’s crash brought out the red flags for the first time at Imola since fellow Williams driver Ayrton Senna’s fatal accident in the same area of the track at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.
2021 PORTUGUESE GRAND PRIX
George Russell qualified in eleventh place at the 2021 Portuguese Grand Prix, recording his best ever qualifying result in a Williams car. The Brit missed out on a place in the final part of qualifying by just 0.057 seconds. Russell’s eleventh place in qualifying was Williams’ best Saturday result since the 2018 Italian Grand Prix, when Lance Stroll qualified in tenth.
2021 SPANISH GRAND PRIX
George Russell became the first Williams driver to reach Q2 at the Spanish Grand Prix since Felipe Massa in 2017. Progressing to Q2 for a fourth successive race, Russell equalled the longest streak of non-Q1 eliminations in his career to date. The only other time he has reached Q2 at four consecutive races was between the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix and the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix. Russell was one of seven drivers to finish the race where he started.
2021 MONACO GRAND PRIX
George Russell finished in fourteenth place for the third time in the first five races of the 2021 season. Russell was the first Williams driver to get out of Q1 at the Monaco Grand Prix since 2018. His fourteenth place was the best result for a Williams driver in Monaco since Felipe Massa finished ninth in 2017.
2021 AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX
Despite his team having to change his power unit ahead of qualifying, George Russell continued his record of reaching Q2 at every race so far in 2021. Fifteenth place matched his worst qualifying result of the year to date. This was the third consecutive race that Russell has qualified in that position. Russell failed to finish the race, stopping at the pit entry ahead of the restart.
2021 FRENCH GRAND PRIX
With fourteenth place in qualifying, George Russell recorded Williams’ best qualifying result at Circuit Paul Ricard since the 1990 French Grand Prix when both drivers qualified in the top ten. He went on to finish the race in twelfth position – his best result since scoring with Mercedes at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix.
2021 STYRIAN GRAND PRIX
George Russell missed out on reaching Q3 by just eight thousandths of a second. Russell equalled his best qualifying result with Williams. He also qualified eleventh at this year’s Portuguese Grand Prix. After running as high as eighth in the opening stages of the race, Russell was the second driver to retire from the Styrian Grand Prix. He recorded his third retirement of the 2021 season. It’s the second time that Russell has retired at the Red Bull Ring. Russell became the first driver to retire having started tenth on the grid in 2021; though this was the fifth time in the last six races at the Red Bull Ring that the driver starting tenth has retired from the race.
2021 AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX
George Russell reached Q3 for the first time in a Williams car. It was the second Q3 appearance of his career, having reached Q3 with Mercedes at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix. This was the first time a Williams driver qualified in the top ten since Lance Stroll qualified in tenth at the 2018 Italian Grand Prix. It was Williams’ first Q3 appearance in Austria since 2016. Russell’s presence in Q3 made this the first that three British drivers qualified in the top ten since the 2013 Belgian Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Paul di Resta all reached Q3 on that occasion. After a late-race battle with Fernando Alonso, Russell narrowly missed out on scoring points. Instead, he finished eleventh, equalling his best result in a Williams car. Russell also finished eleventh for Williams at the 2019 German Grand Prix and the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix.
2021 BRITISH GRAND PRIX
George Russell reached Q3 for a second consecutive race, recording his first Q3 appearance at his home race. This was the first time since the final two races of the 2017 season that a Williams driver reached Q3 at two consecutive events. Russell is the first Williams driver to reach Q3 at Silverstone since Valtteri Bottas, who qualified seventh with the team in 2016.
2021 HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX
For the first time, George Russell scored points in a Williams car. Russell scored the first points for a driver starting seventeenth on the grid since Sergio Perez at the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix.
2021 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX
George Russell qualified for the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix in second place. He recorded the first front row start for a British Williams driver since Damon Hill at the 1996 Japanese Grand Prix. Russell went on to finish in second place, recording the first podium finish of his Formula 1 career. Russell is the 215th driver to finish on the podium at a round of the World Championship and is the first driver to record their maiden podium finish at the Belgian Grand Prix since Ivan Capelli in 1988.
2021 DUTCH GRAND PRIX
George Russell’s two-race scoring streak ended at the Dutch Grand Prix with a retirement. He was classified in seventeenth place having finished more than 90% of the race distance. Russell became the first driver to record four retirements in 2021.
2021 ITALIAN GRAND PRIX
With ninth place at the Italian Grand Prix, George Russell scored for the third time in the last four races. Russell last finished in ninth place when he deputised for Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes in the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix. This was the first time that Russell has not finished fourteenth in his three Italian Grand Prix appearances. Russell’s ninth place finish is only the second time in the last 23 seasons that the driver starting fourteenth has scored at the Italian Grand Prix. On Saturday, Russell was out-qualified by a team-mate at Williams for the first time.
2021 RUSSIAN GRAND PRIX
For the fourth time in the last seven races, George Russell reached Q3. Russell recorded his third best qualifying result with third place, having previously qualified on the front row with Mercedes at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix and with Williams at the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix. Russell went on to finish in tenth place. Despite scoring only once in his first 48 Grand Prix appearances, Russell has now scored in four of the last five races. Russell becomes the 24th different driver to have scored points at the Russian Grand Prix. He scored the first point for a Williams driver at the Russian Grand Prix since Felipe Massa finished ninth at the 2017 event.
2021 TURKISH GRAND PRIX
For only the second time in the last six races, George Russell failed to score. He finished the Turkish Grand Prix in fifteenth place – one place higher than where he finished last year.
2021 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX
George Russell reached Q2, becoming the first Williams driver to do so at Circuit of The Americas since Felipe Massa in 2017. His lap time was deleted in Q2, meaning he qualified fifteenth.
2021 MEXICO CITY GRAND PRIX
George Russell qualified thirteenth for the Mexican Grand Prix, becoming the first Williams driver to reach Q2 at the Mexican Grand Prix since both Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll reached Q2 in 2017. Finishing sixteenth, Russell equalled his worst result of the season, aside from races which he has retired from. He also finished sixteenth at the Portuguese Grand Prix. Russell has now finished sixteenth on both of his appearances at the Mexican Grand Prix.
2021 SAO PAULO GRAND PRIX
For the first time as a Williams driver in a conventional qualifying session, George Russell was out-qualified by his team-mate.
2021 QATAR GRAND PRIX
After a late race puncture, George Russell finished only seventeenth in the Qatar Grand Prix. It’s his worst result in a race he has finished since finishing eighteenth at the 2020 Russian Grand Prix.
2021 SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX
George Russell became the first driver to reach 15 Q2 exits in the 2021 season. Following a collision with Nikita Mazepin, Russell retired for the fifth time this year. It was his first retirement since the Dutch Grand Prix.
2021 ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX
Despite being out-qualified in seventeenth place, George Russell recorded his best Abu Dhabi Grand Prix qualifying result to date. On his final outing with the Williams team, Russell recorded consecutive retirements for the second time in his career. He last retired from consecutive races at the 2019 Singapore and Russian Grands Prix.
