Low expectations takes the pressure off Williams - Russell

George Russell says that he believes Williams' tough start to the year at pre-season testing has taken pressure off the team to perform well in Melbourne. 

The British team suffered a disastrous start to pre-season testing as they missed the first two-and-a-half days of running due to the FW42 not being ready. When they eventually did get out onto the circuit. the car looked to be the slowest on the grid. 

This bad start comes after a difficult 2018 season where they finished last in the constructors' championship, and they are now expected to prop up the standings once again in Australia. 

“I think from my side and the team’s side, we’re going in there with no pressure on our shoulders,” Russell said.

“Everyone’s expecting us to finish last by a long way, come out the garage and the wheels will fall off the car. And I think anything else we do is going to be an achievement from the outside perspective.

“I’m just going out there to enjoy it, and make the most of this.”

When asked about improvements to the car since pre-season testing, Russell said: “We are expecting an improvement from Barcelona because we didn’t make the most of the package we had.

"But now we can smoothen the edges, fine-tune what we’ve got, and already we’ll find a bit of performance.

“But in all honesty, we were already so far behind in Barcelona, we’ve got a huge step to leap really. We’ll have to see how we get on this weekend.

“We’ve got to take it step by step and get the right process in place.”