Russell starred in wet-dry conditions as he secured a spot on the second row of the grid for Williams behind shock pole sitter Lando Norris and the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz during a hu𝐆gely dramatic conꦰclusion to Q3 at Sochi.

Third o♏n the grid has proved a highly beneficial place to start from in Russia due to the big slipstream effect on the long run down to the first major braking zone at Turn 2.

Both Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Ve꧃ttel took advantage of a massive tow to propel themselves into the lead of the Russian GP w𝕴hen they started from P3 in 2017 and 2019 respectively.

And Wolff has predicted it could be a similar story this year for Russell, who w🗹ill line-up alongside his 2022 Mജercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.

“I would not be surprised if George is leading the race after ꧅Turn 2,” Wolff said.

“And thཧat will be good fun to watch. As long as Lewis can make up many positi𓆏ons, we would have the present and the future running in P1 and P2!

“But joking asജide he has shown strong performance today, he’s been taking massive risks by being the first one to pit 𓃲for softs.

“But equally where he was probably qualifying eighth or ninth, that was th👍e right🃏 thing to do from Williams’s side and George’s side, but you still need to bring it home and that’s what he did.”

Russell said he will aiming to capitalise 💃on the strong straightline 👍speed potential of his “slippery” Williams to mix it up for the lead early on.

“P3 here is an inc🦂redible position to start,” Russ﷽ell explained.

“It’s a really long run into Turn 2 here, we’re pretty slippery on the straights and hopefully Lando will💞 g🅺ive me a nice little slipstream into Turn 1. So, you know, definitely really happy.”