Preview of Formula 1 in 2021: Teammate duel at Williams doesn't exist
Column
In Formula 1, your most important opponent is your teammate and so at GPblog, we look ahead to the team duels in 2021. Which drivers will compete against each other and what can we expect from that duel? In the first part, we look at Williams.
George Russell
On February 15, the day after Valentine's Day, Russell will turn 23 and at that age, he will start his third season in Formula 1. The young Brit won the duel against Robert Kubica and Nicholas Latifi in his first two seasons. He lost his 100% qualifying record when he moved to Mercedes for one race, but came extremely close to Valtteri Bottas. In 2021, Russell must show that he is really ready for the step to the top.
He is the leader at Williams, he already showed in 2020 in a duel with Latifi. The Brit was faster than his teammate every qualifying, and also had the biggest lead of anyone with an average of 0.645s over the 16 qualifying sessions. Russell can hardly do better in 2021, but don't expect the tide to turn around suddenly.
Nicholas Latifi
While Russell already has several titles to his name at 23 years old, Latifi has little to write home about. His advantage, however, is that his father Michael Latifi is a millionaire who is more than happy to sponsor his son's career. As a result, the driver who won only seven races in his entire career got a chance in F1, where he did not leave a good impression.
The fact that Latifi can stay in 2021 cannot be attributed to his great performance on the track. He even had a hard time when Jack Aitken came to race as a replacement for Russell. Latifi must take a huge step in 2021 if he wants to get rid of the 'pay driver' stamp.
The forecast for 2021
A prediction for 2021 therefore does not seem very difficult to make. Russell was by far the best of these two drivers in 2020, and it must be very crazy if that is different in 2021.
For Williams, it is more the question of where that will bring Russell in 2020. Despite this big difference with his teammate, Russell never got to the points. He only achieved this when he came in for Mercedes. With new management, everyone at Williams hopes that a small step can be taken in 2021, even if the rules remain virtually the same and little adjustments can be made to the car.
This article was written and originally published by Tim on the Dutch edition of GPblog.com.