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George Russell said the latest news that he would be back with the Williams team in Abu Dhabi was a “strange feeling.”
The Briton made his Mercedes debut at the Sakhir Grand Prix in place of Lewis Hamilton, who tested positive for COVID-19 before the race weekend.
Russell arrived in Abu Dhabi initially still in Mercedes service, but when Hamilton returned a negative test and was cleared to race, he was reinstated with Russell returning to Williams.
And the 22-year-old said that while Williams’ late return was a “weird feeling,” he put disappointment aside and refocused all his energy on the team that allowed him to get the Mercedes opportunity.
“It was a strange feeling, to be honest,” he told reporters at the Yas Marina circuit.
“Before Bahrain, I really wanted to spend the two weeks in the car, simply because I was hoping to learn everything I needed in Bahrain and could have come here with no excuses as such.
“Since Bahrain came out so well from a performance perspective, a part of me was like, you know what, I think it was a good weekend, obviously I really wanted to win and I would have had a great opportunity this weekend.
“However, these guys from Williams gave me that opportunity, they’ve been working really hard for me for the last two years.
“It is my duty to say goodbye to the season in style, and that is what I am here to do.”
At the end of FP2, Russell was 2.5 seconds slower than last weekend’s teammate Valtteri Bottas, giving a clear example of the difference between Mercedes ‘W11 and Williams’ FW43.
“You can’t hide the lap times, obviously that’s clear,” Russell said.
“Mercedes is the benchmark. I was lucky enough to race for them last week and I know where we need to push the car.
“It’s good learning, and doing it consecutively in the space of five days was great.”
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– Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) December 11, 2020
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Abu Dhabi is Williams’s last chance to finish the season without a zero next to his name, and Russell hopes that drivers who are ready to leave their teams or Formula 1 altogether after this race will actually do so, which could. open up some opportunities.
“We will try everything, I think it reaches the last race of the season, I think everyone up and down the grid gets a little desperate.
“There are some teams fighting for that P3 spot, so we could see some great lunges. Charles [Sainz Jr.] he’s going to Ferrari so he probably won’t mind if he hits the car then you got Danny Ric [Ricciardo] it’s off, so you probably won’t care if it hits the car.
“Who else is going? Sergio [Perez]it’s off so you won’t mind if it hits the car. It could be a good one.
“But at sheer pace, we know we won’t be fighting for the top 10, in all honesty. Kimi [Raikkonen] looked really fast, and Kevin [Magnussen], but that is usually the case.
“We usually get a little rest on Friday and we usually fix it on Saturday.”
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