Frederic Vasseur knows Alfa Romeo were better in F1 2021 against Williams, but two races changed the game where the team didn’t do well.
At first glance, it looks like Williams were the better overall. Yes, more points of course but there is a little more to it than meets the eye. Several times, particularly early in the season up to the halfway point, Alfa Romeo finished ahead of them and scored points before as well, also with three 10th place positions.
However, Williams drivers put in a spirited display at Hungary and took an admirable seventh and eighth to overtake Alfa Romeo. George Russell’s amazing kamikaze like qualifying at Spa and the “race” result helped the British F1 team pull ahead of Alfa Romeo.
After that, Alfa Romeo were generally better in terms of race results but the Hungary and Belgium race scenarios swung it for Williams in a roundabout way. But overall, the Swiss F1 outfit were possibly the better and Vasseur knows that.
“I think that something like 13 or 14 times we have finished ahead of Williams in the race and we missed two races, that it was Budapest and Spa, but with their pace, because we were on the sixth and seventh row and around the crash, let’s say in Spa because we missed the quali,” said Vasseur.
“They scored something like 20 points in these two events and it is like it is. I don’t think about it. I’m just convinced that as a team we have to be much more optimistic. It’s part of the game. We have to be there every single weekend because we know that when you are on the second part of the grid you won’t have so many occasions to score points.
“It means we have to be always there and consistent and we missed two or three opportunities in 2021 and it’s a shame,” summed up Vasseur. For next season it is all change at Alfa Romeo with a rookie and race winner there now.
Alfa Romeo should move up and their target will be to overtake Williams and bridge the gap to Aston Martin. New rules and regulations might assist them in their quest. The team could be forgiven for feeling short changed over Williams two race success but that’s racing.
The story was written by Neil Farell
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Here’s Williams and ROKiT in their sponsorship case
Here’s Valtteri Bottas on multi-year contract with Alfa Romeo
Here’s Frederic Vasseur on Guanyu Zhou and his pairing with Valtteri Bottas
