F1 | US GP | Xevi Pujolar on hotter temperatures helping Alfa Romeo: “We like it more like this because it gives us a chance to fight with people”
Xevi Pujolar, F1 Head of Trackside Engineering of Alfa Romeo Racing, had a talk with MotorLAT and other selected media on the impact of Raikkonen’s spin, how will hotter temperatures at the remaining races affect their performance and his view on the race.
The U.S. Grand Prix has been bittersweet for Alfa Romeo. The Italian-Swiss team lost the chance to get some important points but at the same time it has been able to fight with many teams and they had the pace to score with both drivers and finish in good positions in a race which was difficult almost for everybody.
MotorLAT and other selected media talked with F1 Head of Trackside Engineering of Alfa Romeo Racing Xevi Pujolar.
When asked how frustrating was to see Kimi coming close to that point in the end without getting it, the Spaniard states:
“Yes. I think that both the qualifying and the race were not as good as we wanted to but considering all the penalties, the starting position was decent to score a point, with Aston Martin, Williams and even an AlphaTauri, Tsunoda’s, - he explains. - We’ve fought until the end of the race and we have finished it with both drivers, we have worked as a team. I mean, there was a chance to score and we went close, unfortunately it was P11, not great but sometimes it is what it is. We had a good pace and we were able to fight with them.”
Raikkonen’s car lost bits when he had contact with Alonso, how much performance was he losing right then and how did he not pass Tsunoda, considering that it is the same problem Hamilton faced with Verstappen.
“At the level of the top speed we were going good. When we got close, we don’t have much range so it is difficult for us to attack and to defend we did for Vettel. Kimi had the floor damage and then the rear wing so this is what happened with him too.”
We missed out by the smallest of margins on the reward 🤏🏻#USGP pic.twitter.com/T6X0SGYirl
— Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN (@alfaromeoracing) October 24, 2021
With the U. S. Grand Prix, the Circus definitely left Europe for 2021 and this brings longer trips and hotter temperatures for the car and the tyres. MotorLAT asked if this could be an advantage for Alfa Romeo.
“When you race with conditions like this you don’t have an advantage but it brings something different and we have to determine one stop or two stops and it is difficult for everyone. That makes it more of a challenge and more interesting for us and for drivers. For sure, we like it more like this because it gives us a chance to fight with people”.
During the race, there has been a moment in which Raikkonen and Antonio were closer and so Vettel was. MotorLAT asked Pujolar if they should have let Kimi through earlier on Antonio as he was faster to have a bigger gap towards Vettel’s Aston Martin at the end of the race.
“Yes. We could have let them swap if Antonio and Kimi would have been even closer but we did not have much margin to do that, that’s why we didn’t swap. We wanted to see what would have happened but then Kimi lost the car.”
