Kimi Raikkonen says results mean nothing to him or Alfa Romeo if they are outside of the points-paying positions, after another subdued event for the team.
Alfa Romeo holds eighth position in the Constructors’ Championship, in front of Haas and Williams, but has scored only two points, courtesy of Antonio Giovinazzi.
Raikkonen has yet to record a top 10 finish, taking a best of 11th in Styria, while the squad’s C39 has been the slowest one-lap package at every grand prix.
Raikkonen lined up at the rear of the 20-car grid for Formula 1’s 70th Anniversary Grand Prix but made gains to head the backmarker battle, taking 15th, ahead of Haas’ Romain Grosjean, Giovinazzi and the two Williams racers.
“11th or last it makes no difference,” he said.
“We did what we could but we still don’t have enough speed to try to recover from what happens on Saturdays.
“We seem to struggle a lot when we get closer to the other cars, especially in the first part of the race, in the high-speed corners. On our own we seem to be OK, but what can I do?”
Alfa Romeo, Haas and Williams have been embroiled in their own battle at the rear of the field throughout the delayed 2020 campaign and Giovinazzi doubts the situation will change in the short-term.
“It wasn’t the easiest of days: we tried our best, we chose to split the strategies to give ourselves a few more chances but in the end it was not enough to get points,” he said of his Silverstone display.
“Our race pace was once again better than what we showed on Saturday, so we can hope to make a step forward if we improve our performance in qualifying.
“We need to keep positive and work hard, as a team, to improve: it’s not realistic to expect many things changing in a couple of days, but at least we are going to a new venue and we can hope it suits us a bit better than Silverstone.”
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