F1 | Xevi Pujolar and the positive side of battling against Williams: “We had a few occasions we could have scored more points. It will be more difficult for them”
Xevi Pujolar, F1 Head of Trackside Engineering of Alfa Romeo Racing talks about the difficult end of the first half of the season but at the same time, he is ready to come back stronger after the break and be ready to exploit any chance to score points.
The summer break arrived at the right moment for Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen. The Italo-Swiss team was going through a hard moment, with Haas passing them through the Constructors Championship, and two penalties given to both drivers in the Hungarian GP. Alfa Romeo is not backing down, though. MotorLAT had a talk with Xevi Pujolar, F1 Head of Trackside Engineering of Alfa Romeo Racing, alongside with other media, and discussed about their point of view on a situation which is not easy but that can be solved through a solid summer break work and some time to chill out and come back stronger than ever.
The session started talking about a massively compromised Hungarian Grand Prix because of the penalties given to both drivers, in an atmosphere, which seemed to be more relaxed on this aspect, considering that both Mercedes drivers committed race-ruining accidents in the last two races. Alfa Romeo suffered from both, but they are ready to keep working hard to get the position lost against Williams as soon as possible.
“The first penalty that was given to Antonio’s speeding when he was getting in the pit lane that was hard. – Pujolar explained – The second one was for Kimi. He was pitting while everyone else was too in the same way. He left when everybody was coming in.”
At this point, MotorLAT asked if he didn’t consider the penalties – especially Giovinazzi’s one “too much”, as the Italian was punished with a 10-second penalty, the same accorded to Hamilton for having put out his title rival
Promoted to P10 and P13 following VET disqualification, which means Kimi grabs one point to bring our season total to 3.#HungarianGP
— Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN (@alfaromeoracing) August 1, 2021
“I’m not complaining about that, if they took decision, then it’s fair – he said – mistakes were made.”
A hard period doesn’t mean anything, as there is always a new opportunity to have a strong performance and get some positions back. It is what Williams did, as the team wasn’t properly delivering the positions it hoped for, and it made a superb come back, gaining an excellent amount of points. Will it be hard for Alfa Romeo to battle against them a fast Russell in the second part of the season?
“It will be not easy, but I think it’s possible for us to pass them – stated Pujolar – At the end of the day it could go much worse. After the first lap, the conditions weren’t easy, we had to fight for positions with Williams and in Lap 1, it was all gone. However, we had very good occasions there, it was challenging, they lost a lot of ground but the differences are huge and we still have a lot to do”.
MotorLAT asked how costly were the penalties for Alfa Romeo and how difficult will be to step ahead of Williams again.
“We still have many races left – Pujolar told MotorLAT – certainly we have work to do but we had a few occasions we could have scored more points. We will come back after the shutdown ready to take all the opportunities that will come. I think it will be more difficult for them.”
