George Russell says he will “go for it” at start of Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix after claiming a shock front row start for Williams.
Russell found himself in Q3 for the third time in four races as he showed strong pace in the wet conditions around Spa-Francorchamps.
Following a red flag for Lando Norris’ hefty crash at Raidillon, Russell initially went out on wets before switching to intermediate tyres.
Despite being able to only complete one flying lap, the Briton lit up the sector times and held provisional pole, only for Max Verstappen to beat Russell’s lap time in the dying seconds.
The result marked Williams’ first front row start since the 2017 Italian Grand Prix, with Russell matching his best grid slot after starting P2 in his one-off appearance for Mercedes in Bahrain last year.
“I don’t know what to say to be honest,” Russell said.
“I thought we had done a good job to get out of Q1 [after] how we got on yesterday and now we’re standing here on the front row.
“I think the guys did an amazing job today. We were on the track always at the right time. The car was feeling great, I had so much confidence so onto tomorrow now.”
Russell revealed he opted to save his engine mode for his final lap in Q3, feeling he had “nothing to lose” given he was already guaranteed a top 10 starting position.
“I was in a fortunate position of there’s nothing to lose,” Russell said.
“We were in Q3 which is not the norm for us, and we just had to go for it. We saved the full maximum engine mode for the last lap, and we just thought, you know what, let’s go for it and I’m buzzing, absolutely buzzing.
“But obviously tomorrow is the important one and I’ve got to go out there and score some more points.”
Russell and team-mate Nicholas Latifi handed Williams its first haul of points for over two years last time out in Hungary, and is eyeing adding to the team’s total on Sunday.
Asked if could be tempted to “have a nibble” at pole-sitter Verstappen on the opening-lap run to Les Combes, Russell replied: “That is the plan, if it is there for the taking, we will go for it. So yeah, mega.”
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