Capito: Williams will need more points to win fight for P8

Williams picked up its first F1 points in two years at the Hungarian Grand Prix before the summer break as Nicholas Latifi and George Russell finished seventh and eighth.

The 10-point haul marked Williams’ biggest score in a single race since 2017, and lifted the team above Alfa Romeo to eighth place in the constructors’ standings.

After finishing the past three seasons at the bottom of the standings, eighth would represent a huge breakthrough for Williams and result in a larger chunk of prize money also being paid out to the team.

But Williams F1 boss Capito believes the team will need to score more points if it wants to clinch eighth in the standings, as it sits just seven points clear of Alfa Romeo going into the second half of the season.

“It was fantastic result in Hungary, to get 10 points and the first and the best result for the team since 2017,” Williams CEO Capito said.

“It was really fantastic, and it was a big confidence boost and a big spirit boost for everybody in the team. To move to eighth position in the championship is absolutely fantastic.

Jost Capito, CEO and Team Principal, Williams F1, in the Press Conference

Photo by: FIA Pool

“Now everybody is full on alert and fighting that we stay on the eighth position. I’m sure that we need some more points for this, so we have to be really focused and fight hard race by race.”

Alfa Romeo has failed to finish a race any higher than 10th this year, but Capito said that none of the bottom three teams could expect to score in normal conditions, making opportunities important to capitalise on.

“I think the eighth, ninth and 10th teams, we wouldn’t get points for a standard, dry normal race without incidents, just a normal race, because our cars are too slow for this,” Capito said.

“That means if there are exceptional circumstances and something happens, you have to be absolutely faultless and deliver a fantastic strategy, good decisions, great pit stops.

“Everybody has to be fully spot on to get the points when they are up for grabs, because we just can’t have a normal race and fight for points.

“We have to get them when it’s difficult to get points.”