TRACKSIDE VIEW
Kubica (l) locks up, flat-
spotting front-left tyre,
Russell more controlled22 AUTOSPORT.COM 18 APRIL 2019RACE CENTRE CHINESE GP
car under better control.
“All the drivers have slightly
different approaches to this
circuit,” says Russell. “It’s clear
on the data we’re doing different
things in the first two corners
but we always come out almost
equal. It’s not like there’s
necessarily a right or wrong
way of approaching it.”
Russell, who describes himself
as “a smooth and in-control driver”,
is right. A glance at the first sectortimes on their fast laps, running
a few seconds apart, shows they
are almost identical in pace.
“Every driver is trying to react
to the car and what it’s doing – it
depends on many factors,” says
Kubica of his driving style. “On
the car, on the set-up, on engine
mappings, so it depends. You
follow what the car does and
you try to obtain maximum grip
in that moment and what you
must do to get a better feelingor a better lap time.”
This suggests the difference
is not in the way the driver is
attempting to achieve the results,
but in the car itself. Kubica has
talked in the past about his car
being different to that of his
team-mate’s, something Russell
has backed up, and it seems he’s
battling a car that’s more on the
nose. It’s what makes comparisons
between the pair difficult.
EDD STRAWWhen watching trackside, it’s
always fascinating to pick out
differences in the styles of the
drivers. Standing on the outside
of the long Turn 3 left-hander –
which also offers a good view of
the second turn and, if you turn
around, the fast entry to the first
corner – one pair of drivers stand
out for their differences: Robert
Kubica and George Russell.
With the Williams duo on slightly
offset runplans compared to the
rest of the field, heading out earlier
for their runs and completing their
qualifying simulations on soft
Pirellis before the rest, it’s easy to
catch their quickest laps. The
contrast is stark. Kubica is all
steering inputs, throttle stabs and
the odd snatch of the brake, while
Russell is significantly smoother.
On their qualifying simulation
laps, Kubica has several jabs of the
throttle out of Turn 2. Into Turn 3,
he brakes late, locking up and
producing a tiny puff of smoke (you
can just see the end of the lock-up
in the photograph) as he hustles
the car through the left-hander.
Russell’s approach is altogether
more controlled. He rolls the car
into the corner, the lack of a
lock-up ensuring he gets the
nose in more tightly. While this
means the rotation phase of the
car is longer, it also keeps a tricky