George Russell says he has little interest in the inter-team fight at Williams this season given the squad’s position at the rear of Formula 1’s pecking order.
Williams lapped significantly off the pace throughout the Australian Grand Prix weekend, and was the only team to regress pace-wise compared to its 2018 performance at Albert Park.
Russell out-qualified team-mate Robert Kubica by over a second and went on to finish a lap ahead in the race, albeit with the Pole compromised by first-lap front-wing damage that had an adverse effect on his FW42.
“Obviously from a personal perspective you’ve only got your team-mate to compare against,” said Russell.
“Obviously I’m not disappointed to come out on top but at the end of the day I’m not interested in fighting him for last, we need to work to make this right.
“I’m a fighter, I’m a winner, and I’m not interested in just battling my team-mate for the back of the grid.”
Russell also added that he feels a greater responsibility to spearhead the team’s efforts in its bid to return to respectability.
He commented post-qualifying that Williams feels it has a fundamental flaw with its FW42 that may take months, or more, to address.
“It’s not like junior formula when you just get in and drive as quickly as you can,” Russell said on his different approach.
“It’s sort of on my shoulders at the moment to push the team in the right direction.
“I’ve got their full support at the moment and like I said this is just a bit of a process.”
