Williams is gearing up to take "three steps forward" after an abysmal first half of the 2019 season.

That is the claim of George Russell, who says the fact he is driving clearly the slowest car during his rookie season is not spoiling the fun for him.

"How can you not be happy when you get to drive a Formula 1 car every two weeks?" the reigning Formula 2 champion told France's Auto Hebdo.

"I am paid to do the job I dreamed of as a child. I know we are going through a difficult time but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

"My time will come," said Russell.

Indeed, the 21-year-old is strongly backed by Mercedes, but for now he insists he is firmly behind Williams' push to rediscover better days.

"I am aware of the history of the team and it is a privilege to defend its colours," said Russell.

"Everyone knows what our performance is at the moment, but it's a long term project," he added.

"We could have done several things in the short term to obtain immediate gains but the team has an overall vision that goes much further."

Russell says Williams is now moving into the period where performance should finally be improved.

"We are proceeding in stages for the moment," he said.

"The team had a very difficult season last year and wanted to make a lot of changes to the organisation. It's as though they had to take two steps backwards before taking three steps forward.

"The foundations are now in place to bring performance to the car and I am convinced that we can do it.

"At Silverstone, we had the first pieces of a major aerodynamic evolution that should ideally be introduced from now until Hungary," Russell revealed.

"The numbers we have for what is coming suggests a significant advance in that we hope to be able to fight with other cars on the track. Whether it will be three tenths, six tenths, a full second, we are not 100 per cent sure."