George Russell is confident that Williams Racing can take a further step forward in 2021 and haul themselves off the bottom of the Constructors’ Championship standings.
For the first time in their history, Williams went a season in Formula 1 without scoring a point, with eleventh place finishes for Russell and team-mate Nicholas Latifi the best results of the year. Russell finished eleventh in the Tuscan Grand Prix, while Latifi finished in the same position in the Austrian, Italian, and Emilio Romagna Grand Prix.
However, Russell believes the team can continue their upward swing in 2021 and score points, with the aim to finish ahead of the Haas F1 Team and perhaps even Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN in the standings.
“I am confident that we can beat Haas next year. I think we will be on an equal footing with Alfa Romeo, but I would like to think we can pass that team as well, given the progress we are making,” Russell is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com.
“We want to score points next year. We won’t join the fight in the midfield all of a sudden, as the rules will remain the same, but we will certainly have to aim to beat Haas and Alfa Romeo.”
Team-mate Latifi is equally optimistic that the team can bring themselves off the bottom of the standings in 2021, although the Canadian remains realistic about making huge gains due to the regulations being pretty static.
“I am absolutely optimistic that we can be more competitive next year,” said Latifi. “We want to see progress and at least compete on a more regular basis with Haas and Alfa. And hopefully there will then be more chances to fight for the points.
“But at the same time I am also realistic. This year’s car will be taken to next year. Of course there will still be some development – we will certainly not just focus on 2022 – but the car does have its weaknesses and the question is to what extent some parts can be tackled because they have been homologated.
“It could be difficult, but I am optimistic that we can make good progress, having already taken a huge step forward this year.”
