Alfa Romeo believes it can still beat Williams to eighth in the Constructors’ Championship despite its opponent’s strong haul in Hungary.
Alfa Romeo has been eighth in the standings for the past three years and again held the position prior to last weekend’s round at the Hungaroring.
But Williams ended a two-year points drought in style as both of its drivers finished within the top 10, moving it ahead of Alfa Romeo in the standings.
As it stands Williams has 10 points to Alfa Romeo’s three; if Sebastian Vettel’s exclusion is reversed then the picture will be Williams on six and Alfa Romeo on two.
“It will be not easy, but I think it’s possible, and we’ll try,” said Alfa Romeo’s Head of Trackside Engineering Xevi Pujolar.
“I think at the end of the day it could have been much worse, from where they were at the beginning.
“We wanted both cars in Q2 and in front of Williams, so were very well positioned, but after lap one that was gone.
“We had a chance there, even if they were both ahead, but then both of our cars had a penalty, so that was more challenging.
“We managed to recover ground during the race and they lost ground. The difference in points is not huge and still a lot of races to do so I think we can do that.”
Alfa Romeo’s prospects unravelled in Hungary as both of its drivers were penalised.
Kimi Räikkönen was issued a 10-second penalty for a pit lane clash with Nikita Mazepin while Antonio Giovinazzi received a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for pit lane speeding.
