“Russell is doing a very good job” – Alfa Romeo is struggling to cope with George Russell’s qualifying pace, but believe they have a better racing car than Williams.
George Russell is proving to be a handful for Alfa Romeo, their head of trackside engineering has admitted. Xevi Pujolar is impressed with “Mr. Saturday” in qualifying and admits they are finding it difficult to beat Williams’ pace on the straights.
But he is confident Alfa Romeo has a better race car overall and wants Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi to fight Russell better. Both drivers finished behind the Mercedes junior, with Giovinazzi forced to take a pit stop in the opening lap and Raikkonen clashing with former Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel on the final lap of the Austrian GP.
“It’s (Williams) quick on the straights, I can confirm that. Difficult to follow and to pass on the straights. But I think we have got a better race car.
“In qualifying, I have to say that Russell is quite especially doing a very good job in qualifying, and we just need to work harder and match it or do better. But overall, I will say that in the race we were generally better in terms of pace.”
The battle of the ‘A’ teams
Alfa Romeo is currently ahead of Williams and Haas, two teams yet to open their points account. And Pujolar is confident they can now take on the likes of Alpine, AlphaTauri, and Aston Martin.
“Silverstone will still not be easy. But you can see that last weekend and this weekend, we can fight with them, we can race them. Not only Russell, but we can fight here with Alpine, with Aston Martin, and even one of the AlphaTauris. So everything is very tight.”
