Williams "absolutely convinced" George Russell exit will not weaken team

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Williams "absolutely convinced" Russell exit will not weaken team

Russell leaves for Mercedes at the end of the season

Ian Parkes & Ewan Gale

Saturday 18 September 2021 16:55

Williams CEO and team principal Jost Capito has downplayed worries of the team becoming weaker without George Russell.

Russell makes the jump to Mercedes for 2022 having helped the team rebuild itself into a points-scoring outfit over three seasons with the team.

He will be replaced by Red Bull reserve driver Alex Albon but Capito has raised current team-mate Nicholas Latifi's recent record as a reason to be optimistic about entering F1's new era.

Asked how much weaker Williams would be without Russell, Capito replied: "It is difficult to say.

"If you see qualifying [in Monza], Nicky was missing 0.04 seconds so you can't say we have a huge gap between George and Nicky in qualifying.

"In the racing as well, when you look at Hungary in the race, Nicky did a fantastic job.

"I don't think the gap is everybody believes or it looks. He had a couple of issues in qualifying this season that were not caused by him and he would have been in the position to be really in the speed or at the speed of George.

"I am sure Alex can get established in the team very fast as well and deliver his best so I am absolutely convinced we can have two very strong drivers next year."

Albon "best combination between experience and youth"

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Albon will join the team having sat a year out of F1 since being dropped by Red Bull at the end of last season and spending time in the German DTM this year.

Capito explained: "Alex, for me, is the best combination between experience and youth.

"I absolutely believe the best for him is still to come. He went through a hard school, he has been at Mercedes, he has been at Red Bull so he knows a lot and his experience is great.

"Also, his personality is exceptional. I think he is a very friendly and nice guy inside the cockpit and outside the cockpit, he is a real fighter."