Russell: I wanted to test myself with late Monaco charge

George Russell wanted to test himself with a late charge in Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix for Williams after matching his best result in Formula 1.

Russell finished 15th in Monaco as he took advantage of some in-race incidents to finish ahead of Lance Stroll, Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi, as well as beating teammate Robert Kubica for the sixth race in a row.

It was the first time this season that Russell had fought with drivers other than Kubica after a difficult start to the year for Williams, with the Briton taking heart from his display that he saw as preparation for when the team is fighting further up the order.

“It was an enjoyable race from my side. I was really pushing in the last half of the race,” Russell said.

“We knew that we weren’t really fighting for anything, but I was sort of treating it like we were because I’ve got to be ready for when the time comes.

“I wanted to test myself, and I thought the pace was really strong for us in the last 20 laps of the race.”

At one stage, Russell was lapping quicker than race winner Lewis Hamilton was – something the Williams driver said he had been informed of.

“My engineer told me that. I was really pleased with that,” Russell said.

“Stroll came out of the pits on the same compound of tyre as me, but about 20 laps after I pitted, and I managed to pull a seven second gap on him or something.

“I was lapping really good pace considering. From my side, I was really pleased with the performance.”