“A year of missed opportunities” for Racing Point

Retirement of Sergio Pérez and tenth place of Lance stroll. After the exceptional weekend experienced in Sakhir punctuated by a double podium, Racing Point returned to the harsh reality in Abu Dhabi. From 10 points ahead, the team fell to seven behind McLaren.

“A difficult evening where things didn't go the way we wanted,” said team principal Otmar Szafnauer. “Lance's race was seriously compromised by being delayed by Sainz who drove deliberately slowly in the pit lane, while Sergio retired on lap 10 with a loss of power. These events left us with a daunting task to maintain third place in the Constructors' Championship. »

This epilogue symbolizes the seesaw season of the Roses, capable of almost competing with the Mercedes in certain conditions and conversely struggling to reach Q3 at other times. She had one victory and two podiums this season but also zero points in Bahrain or Styria. Without forgetting the 15 points behind and 400 euros inflicted for having copied Mercedes' brake ducts.

“It’s a year of missed opportunities for many reasons – including more than our fair share of bad luck that cost us valuable points,” Szafnauer said immediately after the race.

The Racing Point boss still prefers to focus on the positive aspects of 2020, before the team becomes Aston Martin in 2021 with Sebastian Vettel who will join Lance Stroll.

“We have shown that we have a competitive car and team, which will give us an excellent basis to come back even stronger in 2021 as Aston Martin,” concludes Szafnauer.