After finishing bottom of the constructors’ championship for three seasons in a row, Williams moved up to eighth in the 2021 standings after enjoying its most successful run since 2017.
Williams ended a points drought dating back to the 2019 German Grand Prix. Both of its drivers finished seventh and eighth in Hungary, capitalizing on a crazy start to the race that brought Nicholas Latifi and George Russell into the points from the early stages. laps.
Russell would go on to score more points in Belgium, Italy and Russia, and claim the team’s first podium finish since Azerbaijan 2017 by finishing second at Spa-Francorchamps, a race that never took place due to heavy rain.
Williams team chief executive Jost Capito said those positive results were “not expected” but missing out in previous races gave the whole team extra motivation after spending the last two years closing the grid. .
“When we started finishing 11th, we saw that we could compete with some cars from the middle zone, and of course that also gave us a big boost,” Capito told Motorsport.com .
“You improve more if you are in a position to be able to fight other cars on the track. And something similar happens with the drivers too: they have a completely different motivation than if they are just fighting each other at the back of the grid or if they can compete with other cars”.
“In Barcelona, the fight between George and Alonso was fantastic and gave us confidence that the car was not so bad and that we could score points. The team then started to believe in itself.”
Russell also came close to scoring points at Paul Ricard, Red Bull Ring and Silverstone, but it was at the Hungaroring that Williams finally made their breakthrough a reality.
“I think the team made some very brave decisions in Budapest about tire choice as well as keeping track position,” Capito said.
“Then the team must have the feeling that they got that on merit, and I think that’s the way it is, because if you’re in a position to take the points and you can’t take them, then you haven’t done your job.”
“But when we were in a position to score points with both cars, we started saying ‘OK, can we do something else?’ And then when we finished a couple more races scoring points, it was really good for us.” Williams ‘s.
