Williams driver George Russell says he was surprised that Formula 1 has opted to use the high-speed first turn for this weekend’s Portuguese Grand Prix at Portimao.
Formula 1 is returning to Portugal after a 24-year absence and is doing so at the Algarve circuit, which has never hosted a championship grand prix.
The venue previously welcomed high-profile events in the form of the GP2 Series and European Formula 3, with Russell a part of the latter in 2015.
Russell also sampled the circuit in Mercedes’ 2015 car during a private test in early 2017 shortly after he became affiliated with the manufacturer.
The complex has several track layouts and Formula 1 has opted to use the fast right-hander at Turn 1 rather than a slow-speed right/left complex.
“I’m really excited and it’s a spectacular circuit, very undulating, a lot of blind corners, which is great and adds a lot of character,” said Russell.
“I need to wait and see once I’ve driven it in a current car.
“We may have some track limits issues which I hope can be rectified before we get there at Turn 1 as I know that was an issue in Formula 3.
“In 2015 on the Thursday we had a test day which was on the quick Turn 1 which is what we’ll be doing for the F1 weekend.
“Everyone was just [exceeding] track limits but then they adopted actually doing the hairpin loop which was very nice.
“I’m actually surprised we haven’t done that loop as for racing it would be better having a slower speed corner at the end of a long straight.
“Nonetheless I’m excited to go there and intrigued for the challenge that I and the team face.”
