Discussing the battle for 7th place in the 2023 Formula One constructors championship may not be the most glamorous subject but make no mistake, for the teams involved – that is Williams, Alfa Romeo and Haas (as AlphaTauri seem to be too far behind to grab 7th at this point short of a fairly drastic change in performance) it is a very important one due to the amount of money on the line paid out to teams following the conclusion of the season.
Though overall honours are not on the line for any of the aforementioned teams, the stakes are high when it comes to securing that 7th place – with 6th – currently occupied by Alpine with 73 points – realistically not being on the table. As it stands Williams Racing (all courtesy of Alex Albon as Logan Sargent has yet to score) are on 21 points, with Haas on 11 and Alfa Romeo on 10.
Williams currently appear to have the pace on certain circuits to match or sometimes even better the “upper midfield” bracket of Alpine, McLaren et al on merit. But with Sargeant not getting the same out of his FW45 as his teammate and with such a small number of points seperating the teams any of the three could claim that important 7th spot, particularly with the potential of upgrades bringing additional performance in the near future.
One such team embroiled in this tussle about to deliver an upgrade in the coming race weekend are Alfa Romeo.
Valtteri Bottas, who just pipped Logan Sargent to the final point available in the Italian Grand Prix spoke following the race on the advantage Williams appear to have currently and what the Swiss based Alfa Romeo can do about it:
“They clearly have a faster package at the moment. The last two racetracks were a different level of downforce but still they’ve clearly had an edge. It’s a bit worrying but we’ve got an upgrade for Singapore, if that brings us closer then it
The Finnish driver wouldn’t be drawn on what those upgrades but spoke of the potential in the C43:
“I think in theory the package is decent, the field is tight so really hoping they (the upgrades) can give us a good step forward but at the moment it’s only speculation so we’ll see on track in Singapore.”
Marina Bay in Singapore, with a slightly altered layout this year may well favour the slippery Williams in the coming race, but with qualifying being key there and not necessarily the easiest place to overtake, Alfa Romeo will need those upgrades to come good on the Saturday to try gain some valuable points come race day.
