Racing Point desperate for "normal race weekend"

Racing Point

Racing Point desperate for "normal race weekend"

Andrew Green believes team has been dogged by bad luck

Ewan Gale

Thursday 15 October 2020 15:25

Racing Point technical director Andrew Green believes the only thing that can stop his team from claiming third in the constructors' championship is "bad luck".

A strong Eifel Grand Prix weekend promoted Racing Point above McLaren in the standings, with Sergio Perez narrowly missing out on a podium whilst stand-in driver Nico Hülkenberg produced a stirring drive to rise from 20th to eighth.

With just six points covering Racing Point to Renault in fifth and the momentum swinging on a race-by-race basis, Green has pointed to luck being the key factor in deciding who claims the 'best-of-the-rest' tag behind Mercedes and Red Bull.

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This season the team has been plagued by off-track problems, notably the 'copying' furore that led to a deduction of 15 constructors' championship points, Perez's positive Covid-19 test and Lance Stroll's illness.

"We don't seem to be getting the rub of the green at the moment," said Green. "I just want a normal race weekend and we haven't had a normal race weekend.

"Since race one, something happens every weekend and all we need between now and the end of the season is a normal race weekend where we can just race the car, set it up normally and have a weekend without any major distractions and that will give us our best possible opportunities.

"We haven't had one of those so far this year so that will make the difference for us. If we can have that then we really can challenge for third, we really can. It is going to be a real battle.

"There are three teams there that are just swapping places all the time so it is going to be a good fun end to the season."

The race at the Nürburgring marked the first of four consecutive races at new or returning circuits, with Portimão, Imola and Istanbul Park to follow.

Green has backed his team to excel at the venues, making use of a believed advantage with the simulator programme at the Silverstone factory.

"I think the circuits coming up, I think there is a good range of variability in the circuits," he added.

"We have got some new ones coming up as well so I think the ability for teams to hit the ground running in places like Imola and Portimao is going to be important.

"That is something we are quite good at, we have got a good simulator programme back at the factory, we can bring the drivers up to speed very quickly.

"I think our tyre understanding is very good, I think we know what to do there. Those are two tracks we know about."

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