George Russell says he would be “lying” to insist that Williams is not currently the slowest Formula 1 team on the grid ahead of the 2019 season.

Williams missed the first two days of pre-season testing after hitting delays with its FW42 car but has since recovered well to rack up a strong haul of laps, though both drivers remain realistic about the British squad’s chances following its setbacks.

Russell clocked 140 laps on the penultimate day of running in Barcelona to ensure Williams logged more valuable laps as it surpassed the triple figure mark for a third successive day.

“I’d be lying if I said we were not the slowest at the moment,” Russell said.

“That is a reality. It is clear we have some work to do, but was very positive is that we made a big step from when I jumped into the car on Tuesday, made a step since Robert was in the car yesterday.

“Hopefully when he jumps in again tomorrow, we will find another step. We understand the issues, we recognise that, and we are doing everything we can to rectify it.

“I’m definitely very happy with the number of laps we’ve done but we have not been able to do lap times, we still have a bit to find with the … we were up there but we’ve got work to do. We were a big step behind everybody else.”

Asked if he is deflated by the situation, Russell replied: “No not really, I’m still very motivated, energised, and after doing two race distances I feel decent.

“I think I need to step back and pinch myself and realise I am in F1 and I will be making my debut, but at the end of the day my goal is to be in F1 for many years to come.

“If I step back and relax too much I might be kicked out of the door. So my goal at the moment is to work with the team to try and push this car and get everything out of it.

“So I’ll be ready to do some more laps, but I’m handing the keys to Robert tomorrow.”