Italian Grand Prix – Williams will field Formula 2 driver Roy Nissany in first practice at Monza, taking the place of George Russell for the session.
Williams will run Roy Nissany in this weekend’s first practice session at Monza. The Formula 2 driver currently races with Trident and is part of the Williams junior programme alongside Dan Ticktum, Jamie Chadwick and Jack Aitken.
Having enjoyed a reasonable weekend at Spa-Francorchamps where he finished P8 in the feature race, before clashing with DAMS’ Dan Ticktum in the sprint race, Nissany now heads to Monza knowing he’ll be taking the wheel of the Williams FW43 for the Formula 1 first practice session. He most recently drove the car during first practice in Barcelona.
“After the great session in Barcelona I am really looking forward to driving at Monza.” said Nissany.
“This legendary track is one of my favourites, as it is where I had my first single seater win. I’m sure it will be emotional, but as always, I will switch on my robot mode to ensure I will be fully focused on completing my job for the team. This FP1 session, I will have more experience, greater confidence and I feel even better than before, ahead of jumping in the car. Of course, we will do more preparations in the simulator at the factory this week following Spa. I am keen to get in the car and release that clutch lever.”
Nissany will take over George Russell’s car, with the English driver sitting out the session. Williams say that they will be evaluating their rear wing performance during FP1, as Senior Race Engineer Dave Robson explained: “Roy did an excellent job in Barcelona and again he will play a vital role in our Friday engineering plan, before George takes over in FP2. We will be concentrating on rear wing performance as well as looking at some development items.”
With Formula 1 banning the use of different engine modes for qualifying from this weekend onwards, Robson says Williams aren’t expecting it to make a huge difference to their performance: “A recent clarification to the F1 regulations means that engine modes will be a little different this weekend, with engine power having to remain consistent throughout qualifying and the race. Whilst this may have an impact on our relative pace in qualifying and the race, we expect the effect to be small and we are totally confident that our partners at Mercedes will continue to maximise the potential of their exceptional power unit.”
