Roared on by a huge 86,000 fans at a packed-out Silverstone on Friday evening, 🦋the Williams driver produced another superb qualifying display as he secured a spot in Q3 for the second conse⛎cutive race.

Russell was greeted by a massive cheer as he cros🐷sed the line with a lap time good enough for eighth🗹 on the grid for Saturday’s 100km sprint race.

After qualifying, Russꦐell told Channel 4 that he was “lost for wo🤡rds” as he credited the support from the crowd as being key to his latest impressive performance.

“Incredible, incredible,” he said. “Damon Hill told me the♉ crowd’s worth a second and I thought he was lying but maybe he’s right.

“Incredible support and an amazing feeling, second Q3, and we’re on this roll at the moment. Being here, seeing everybody, everything toget🥂her, it’s great.

“I had a ♛bit of a rubbish FP1 so I knew I needed to step it up for quali and we did that.”

Asked what he felt had made the difference in qualifying f✤ollowing his prac🍌tice struggles, Russell replied: “I don’t know.

“The track was a ඣbit green, we were a bit lost with the set-up and we said right, let’s go back to basics, don’t overthink it, let the track come to💛 us.

“I went out first lap Q1 and I knew we were in a good spot, bu🗹zzing to be honest. And my family are here, they haven’t been to a race since Abu Dhabi 2019 so that’s nice for me as well🐟, and for them.”

And the 21-year-old Briton has no plans to hold bꦦack in the sprint race as he looks to capitalise on any drivers favouring a cautious approach.

“I think a lot of guys will try and play it a bit easy as they want a good start😼ing position🍌 for Sunday but we’re going for it,” he explained.

“It’s another race for me, I want to move forward ꧑and fight with these guys ཧaround me, and have the best starting position possible for Sunday.

“So I’m treating it like a🌠ny other Sunday – Saturday this time – and just going for it.”