In an interview with the media yesterday, Williams driver Felipe Massa is confident Williams can battle Red Bull for second place in the Constructors’ Championship.
Williams moved into third place in the standings at the Italian Grand Prix after the Brazilian finished third at Monza (his first podium since joining the Williams team) and team-mate Valtteri Bottas fourth. This result from Monza took the team to 177 points and are currently 95 points behind Red Bull at the moment.
In his interview with the media yesterday, Massa feels they have what it takes to catch their Milton Keynes rivals. Massa stated the following:-
‘We’re planning to close the gap in every race… to catch even Red Bull which is a bit far, but you’ll never know. Everything can change pretty quickly in Formula One in two or three races. The situation is different. Maybe we have the opportunity to fight for the second place.
‘I think the work and the job we are doing this year is going very well. So there’s still a lot to improve in the second part of the season and also next year.’
As Massa has stated in his interview, it is clear that his and the Williams’ team aim is to close the gap to their rivals as much as possible in the remaining races of this season. I would have to agree with Massa that catching the gap to Red Bull is a bit far for them, but all they can do is try and see if they can close the gap on them.
Massa makes a valid point when he says that things can rapidly change in the sport fairly quickly and he is right about that. Maybe in the remaining few races a bit of luck could come his and the Williams’ team way and could have the opportunity to fight for second place in the Constructors. But it is fair to say that this season has been great for Williams and seeing them back at the front, fighting for strong points finishes and podiums is great to see and they have all the potential underneath them to improve too.
Next up is in the Singapore Grand Prix and further on in his interview, Massa is hoping to fight for another top-three finish this weekend. Massa added the following:-
‘Monza was a fantastic race for us. We managed to finish on the podium, which was great. We finished third and fourth. We managed to pass Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship so going for third place, I think it was a very important race for us.
‘It was fantastic to be back on the podium. I hope we can carry on being back on the podium for most of the races. I think it’s (Singapore) always a difficult race, a different track. Not the best track for us. I really expect we can be there, I really expect we can be competitive and I hope we can fight again for the podium.’
Monza was a great race for Massa as he rightly points out after a great drive to secure his first podium of the season and also his first podium for Williams too. Alongside this, the team also managed to gain third in the Constructors Championship and that has to be a positive step forward for Williams going into the final races of the 2014 season.
As Massa says, he hopes to be back on the podium shortly but he understands that achieving it this weekend could be difficult for him and is being realistic about his expectations. But as Massa says himself, if he can get to Singapore, find the best set up that he possibly can, gets himself in the opportunity to fight for a podium, then he could once again deliver this weekend.
But I do feel that even though Massa feels that Williams could pose a threat to Red Bull for second place in the Constructors Championship, he is being realistic at the same time. It would give me no greater joy to see Williams fighting with Red Bull and clinching second place away from them as they do deserve it after the past couple of seasons and would be a pleasant way to enjoy all their hard work this season.
I just feel that the gap between Williams and Red Bull is a bit too much for them to close down but I have no doubts that they will throw everything they have at the task and will try their very best to achieve it. But if Red Bull were to not have the best weekends in the next remaining races, Williams for sure are the next best team with the opportunity to take the position away from them.
But realistically, I feel that Williams will stay where they are in the Constructors and there is no denying that they will be pleased about it too. And if Williams clinch third in the Constructors like I believe they will do, then that result itself will be celebrated like winning the World Championship and quite rightly too.
