George Russell on his plan for the start from shock second on the grid: "If it [the lead's] there for the taking we will go for it;" Belgian Grand Prix live only on Sky Sports F1 at 2pm on Sunday, with build-up from 12.30pm
Sunday 29 August 2021 17:20, UK
Surprise Belgian GP front-row starter George Russell says he will have no qualms about attacking for the lead at the start of Sunday's race.
The first F1 Sunday since the summer break sees Williams' Russell as the unexpected interloper between title contenders Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton on the grid after an astonishing performance from the British driver in wet qualifying.
The 23-year-old, who reaches a half-century of Grands Prix on Sunday, has never previously started higher than eighth in his Williams career - although does have one famous previous experience of being on the front row in F1.
That was when he stood in for Hamilton when the world champion was sidelined with Covid-19 in Bahrain at the end of last season. Qualifying a close second behind Mercedes regular Valtteri Bottas on his first weekend in their car, Russell overtook the polesitter into the first corner and would have won the race but for tyre troubles.
The difference here is that Russell's Williams is significantly a much slower car than Verstappen's Red Bull and Hamilton's Mercedes in the dry, but the rainy conditions that he starred in on Saturday are again forecast prominently for Sunday.
And so asked if he fancied his chances of attacking Verstappen for the lead on the slipstreaming-friending long run up to Les Combes, the circuit's fifth corner, on the opening lap Russell said: "That's the plan, that's the plan!
"If it's there for the taking we will go for it."
The race starts at 2pm, live only on Sky Sports F1, with build-up from 12.30pm.
Situated in the heart of Belgium's Ardennes forest, the 4.4-mile Spa-Francorchamps track is no stranger to unpredictable conditions with many of F1's most famous moments at the venue coming amid wet weather.
Saturday's Qualifying - initially delayed before Q1 and then suspended early into Q3 after Lando Norris crashed heavily - saw varying levels of rain lash down on the undulating circuit, creating challenging conditions for the drivers.
Verstappen ultimately tamed the conditions in the quickest lap time at the end of Q3, with pole position a key first step in his attempt to regain momentum in the championship fight after losing the points lead to Hamilton before the break.
"I'm quite confident," said the Belgian-born Dutchman, chasing a first race victory at Spa.
"We had a good Friday straightaway out of the box. The car felt quite decent. There were no big dramas.
"There are always things to fine-tune but it felt quite good, and in the wet, it's never easy, it's always moving around - but yeah, it's alright.
"You just need to make sure that we have a clean first lap and then we'll see. Again, changing conditions and a lot of things can happen."
Two places back on the grid, Hamilton described his Mercedes as a "bit of a handful" in the wet with the W12 running in a lower-downforce configuration than some other cars.
"We tried to find the best compromise, the best balance, for both potential circumstances today and tomorrow in terms of dry and wet," said Hamilton after qualifying. "We'll see how the weather is tomorrow and see how it works."
Hamilton, a three-time winner of the Belgian GP, holds an eight-point advantage over Verstappen heading into Sunday's race.
