Red Bull sees Williams F1 as a threat
Christian Horner believes that Williams is becoming a threat in the Formula 1 Constructors' Championship; however, he expects a lot from the Hungaroring. On the Grove side, Claire Williams believes that the Austrian team can be ousted from its second place.
During the German GP, Sebastian Vettel finished the race in 4th place, while Daniel Ricciardo settled for 6th place. However, their status as the main challenger against Mercedes is undermined by the recent performances of Williams. In the constructors’ championship, the British team has just taken Ferrari’s 3rd place and is 67 points behind Red Bull. The gap could have been even smaller if Felipe Massa had managed to take the first corner on all four wheels at Hockenheim.
On the Williams side, satisfaction is total and ambition is high, Claire Williams now aims for 2nd place in the constructors’ championship: In Formula 1, there are no easy targets. The goal was to take 3rd place in the constructors’ championship. Red Bull is 67 points ahead of us, with the current points system there is no reason for us to think that we cannot snatch second place from Red Bull this year.
« We have always been a team that develops its cars throughout the season; we have internal resources. There is therefore no reason why we cannot continue doing what we are doing now and maintain the consistency we have now. I think we can keep this momentum going. The position we are in now is very far from where we were last year, » said Frank Williams’ daughter to the official Formula 1 website.
Valtteri Bottas, in 5th place, is 15 points behind Daniel Ricciardo in the overall standings. In his second season, the Finnish driver has managed to match the number of podiums achieved by Juan Pablo Montoya in 2003, when the Colombian driver stood on the podium three times for Williams.
Red Bull is aware of the danger. Christian Horner, the team principal, believes that the gap between the two teams has not changed in recent races, but the speed of the FW36 is a problem: « They have fast cars. We beat them the last two weekends (45 points scored against 36), we’ve extended our lead in the constructors’ championship, but we can’t ignore them. They have fast cars and two fast drivers, Bottas has been very impressive in his recent races. »
Horner admits, however, that Red Bull couldn’t catch up to Williams at the German Grand Prix; for him, 4th place was the best possible result. He discusses the weekend’s race in Autosport: « I think Sebastian Vettel’s fourth place was the maximum we could achieve. The two Mercedes are in a world of their own. Bottas was very fast throughout the weekend; in reality, we were battling against Ferrari and the rest of the field. At the first corner, Daniel showed incredible reflexes to avoid the accident between Massa and Magnussen, and he managed to get back into the context of the race. Sebastian got everything he could from his car. I’m sure Fernando felt a bit alone against the Red Bull, but it was a great race. It would be nice to do it while being closer to the front of the race ».
The Briton believes that the Hungaroring circuit will suit the RB10s better: « Hungary is a good opportunity for us and Singapore is not very far, » he says. « So it will be interesting to see how the car performs in Hungary. Of course, Mercedes is in an excellent position, but I hope we can be a bit closer still ».
