Racing Point Force India F1 Team‘s Otmar Szafnauer believes Esteban Ocon and Sergio Pérez could have finished better than their ninth and tenth place after losing out at the start of the Russian Grand Prix.
After qualifying sixth and eighth, both drivers lost positions in the first part of the race, eventually having to settle for the final point scoring positions despite their best efforts.
“Both cars home safely in the points today, but we ended the day a little frustrated that we weren’t able to demonstrate the true pace of the car.” said Szafnaer after the Russian Grand Prix.
“We lost out to Leclerc on lap one and spent the rest of the afternoon trying to find a way past Magnussen. Despite a pace advantage we couldn’t make a move stick and had to settle for ninth and tenth places.
“Both our cars were running line astern for almost the entire afternoon and we swapped the cars around to give each driver a chance to get ahead of the Haas.
“In the end we didn’t have enough advantage in the parts of the lap where it mattered to get ahead.”
While Szafnauer and the team would have preferred more points, the team principal was happy to add to their championship total.
“We’ve added a few more points to our tally and shown good pace across the weekend so I think we can be just as competitive next weekend in Suzuka.”
