George Russell is anticipating a difficult weekend of racing as Formula 1 returns to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya to contest the sixth race of the 2020 World Championship.

The Formula 1 circus heads to the venue after two weeks of back-to-back racing at Silverstone, with the impending Spanish Grand Prix concluding the series’ second batch of triple-header races this season.

As the home of pre-season testing, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is a track that George is familiar with after turning 393 laps of the 4.655km-long venue – the equivalent of 1,829.418kms – in February.

Composed of a mixture of both low and high-speed corners, the circuit presents Williams Racing with the perfect opportunity to test high downforce set-ups although the team’s first priority will be to understand the Pirelli’s hardest compound of tyres in high temperatures.

As part of his Test Driver duties, Roy Nissany will drive George’s FW43 throughout FP1 on Friday, with the 22-year-old Briton returning to the cockpit in FP2 for 90-minutes of running.

George Russell – Williams Racing Driver

“Off the back of two very different Grands Prix at Silverstone, one being cold with hard tyres and one being hot with soft tyres, I think that has given us some good learning. This week in Barcelona is going to be really tricky as we normally race there in May, now we are racing there in August. However, I am excited to get back driving again and hopefully put in another good Saturday, but this time focus on doing the same job on Sunday.”

George will complete qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix on Saturday before contesting the 66-lap race on Sunday afternoon.