George Russell says he is excited to be racing at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace again this weekend, especially after the race was one of those cancelled during the heavily disrupted 2020 campaign.
The Williams Racing driver has one start at the track back in 2019 and had one of his best finishes of that season in twelfth, but this weekend he will be hoping to be in contention for the points.
Russell has scored sixteen points so far in 2021 and is eager to add to that tally across the final four races of the season before he moves to the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team in 2022.
“Interlagos is another circuit that we unfortunately didn’t get the opportunity to visit in 2020, so I am really excited to go back there this year,” said Russell. “It is a very old school track with plenty of character and lots of undulation.
“We also have the Sprint Qualifying format returning which holds some different challenges to the usual race weekends, so all in all I’m very excited.”
“My experience at the track is limited to an FP1 session” – Nicholas Latifi
For team-mate Nicholas Latifi, the 2021 event will see him race at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace for the first time, with his only experience of the track coming in the form of a free practice session with Williams back in 2019.
The Canadian says he has been looking forward to racing at Interlagos for the first time, and he is expecting an interesting weekend of racing as Formula 1 runs its Sprint Qualifying format for the third and final time this year.
“Autódromo José Carlos Pace is one of the tracks I’ve been looking forward to this year, as I haven’t raced there as a Formula One driver; my experience at the track is limited to an FP1 session with the team in 2019,” said Latifi.
“It is one of the shorter tracks on the calendar and also a very technical one. The in-field section is quite tight and twisty with a mix of cambers, so that makes it a challenge for the car and the driver, especially if we get mixed weather conditions which is quite common for Interlagos.
“We’ll also have the Sprint Qualifying format for the final time this year, which should make for some interesting racing and a good show for the fans.”
Nicholas Latifi will race at Interlagos for the first time this weekend – Credit: Williams Racing