George Russell says seeing the Williams name saved in Formula 1 is the most important part of the team's recent sale.

Last week saw the end of an era as the Williams family relinquished ownership after 43 years, with American firm Dorilton Capital taking over at the end of a Strategic Review.

This follows an increasingly difficult stretch of years for the historic outfit both competitively and economically, with a loss for the last financial year plus the impact of Covid-19 proving the final straw.

Commenting on the sale for the first time on Thursday, ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, Russell is understandably pleased to see the future of Williams secured.

"I spoke with Matthew Savage this morning, who's the chairman of the company [Dorilton Capital]," the Briton revealed.

"At the moment, they're in a full review of what changes need to be made, who will be forming the management side of the company.

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"It's very positive news for Williams as a whole and everybody who works for the team and for both of us as drivers.

"Obviously a slightly nervy time previously, and I'm very pleased to see that the team is stable moving forward, and has got a great company behind to help put Williams back to where they belong, which is definitely higher up the grid.

"In terms of what they need to do to achieve that, at the end of the day we're drivers, we drive the car as fast as we can, and I leave that to the much more intelligent people than I to decide where to invest, and what changes they need to make back at Grove."

As it stands, there is no word yet on the future of Claire Williams, who took over as the day-to-day team boss back in 2013, while her father Sir Frank still officially holds that title.

But when asked if the family should remain part of the team, Russell perhaps unintentionally didn't exactly seem to support that.

"The Williams family has been a huge part of F1," he admitted.

"I think the most important thing with this change of ownership is the name and that side of things will be continuing, which is very important, obviously.

"The Williams family would not have sold to somebody who they didn't believe would be beneficial for the team moving forward.

"And I'm very pleased that they've come to that decision because they believe that is the best for the future of a team and like I said, the culture will not be changing from a historic side.

"Keeping the name of the team is very important as well for us drivers and the people back at base."

As for teammate Nicholas Latifi, who's father Michael has been instrumental in keeping Williams afloat over the past year, he too was happy to see some certainty moving forward.

"Overall, I think it's a very positive step for Williams," said the Canadian.

"I think it's secured the future and stability of the team, which is first and foremost the most important thing.

"In terms of what changes do I think need to be made, I think that's more for them to decide.

"The coming days, weeks, months are going to be [about] evaluating everything like any company would when they are acquiring a new company," said Latifi.

"And see where the investment needs to be diverted to, but overall it can only be positive."