Szafnauer sure Racing Point will recapture 'best of the rest' spot

SportPesa Racing Point team boss Otmar Szafnauer says it's only a matter of time before the pink outfit takes back its position as 'best of the rest' on the F1 grid.

Since shedding its Force India appellation following its takeover by billionaire Lawrence Stroll, Racing Point has struggled to live up to its former iteration as F1's top midfield contender.

There have been mitigating circumstances however to justify the team's under-performance this season as it was forced to compose with a car originally designed under the burden of last year's massive financial woes.

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Szafnauer is nevertheless confident the Silverstone-based outfit can eventually recapture the 'best of the rest' title it held in 2016 and 2017.

"We’ll get there," Szafnauer told Reuters' Alan Baldwin in Hungary.

"We have the same people, the same process, even better tools and more funding so it’s just a matter of time.

"The second half of the season should be a lot closer to where we’ve been in the past. Renault had better watch out."

"We took such a hit last year because of the difficulties that we had," he added.

"We were on the back foot because when we were making decisions back in May and June (2018) about this year’s car, we had no money.

"So we compromised this year’s car and I didn’t really understand the impact of those compromises until this year.

"Now we’re trying to unravel some of those things because we do have funding that we can spend on performance, which is what we’re chasing now."

Racing Point currently sits eighth in F1's Constructors' standings, with 31 points on the board, one point less than Alfa Romeo and five points more than Haas.

The sport's midfield is still governed by extraordinarily close and fierce competition, to the extent that Szafnauer won't dismiss a run to P4 when all is said and done in Abu Dhabi, although he admits it's along shot.

"I still think it's possible but it’s difficult," said the American.

"Not because we’re that far away, but because the competition in the midfield is really intense and we’re really only fighting for a few points or tenths.

"If the top three teams do what they should do, the top six (race) positions are gone. You’re only fighting for a handful of points and there’s a lot of us in that midfield that could get that handful."

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