After three seasons competing for one of the most historic teams in Formula 1, Williams confirmed a few weeks ago that both would separate their paths at the end of this course, largely due to the poor performance of Nicholas Latifi himself, who after giving a step forward in 2021, in this 2022 he again left more than doubts.
The Canadian has never had it easy at Williams, as the cars they have put at his disposal have never really been competitive. However, in this 2022 it has been the great one for obvious reasons.
Alexander Albon, in his first season as a driver for the Grove team, has completely overtaken him and, as if that were not enough, Nyck De Vries, who replaced the Thai in Monza, also overtook Latifi, scoring two points on his debut, when the Canadian himself had yet to finish inside the points zone all season.
The first points for Latifi came this Sunday at Suzuka, but the problem is that they seem to have come too late for his team to change his mind, something that he himself knows: “It was a good race. Of course it’s good to get the first points .Most important of all was that we put on intermissions right away and I got some clean air.”
“It was the right tire and in a way it was a natural decision. Being at the back of the grid you have less to lose. It was my decision to go in and it ended up being the right one.”
“Anyway, it was still difficult to get to the end because after eight laps the front tires were completely worn out, so I just tried to hold on and obviously I’m happy to get those points.”
“However, even if a decision had not yet been made about my future, I think that would not have changed the situation much, because a balanced performance throughout the year is always sought, not a concrete and outstanding result,” concluded the Canadian. .
Nicholas Latifi hadn’t known what it was like to cross the checkered flag in the top ten since the middle of last season, when he scored his first points in motorsport’s top flight, first in Hungary and then in Spa, both races in a row.
The Canadian driver’s future is still up in the air, but if one thing is clear, it is that he will not continue in Formula 1, or at least as a regular driver. And, most likely, we will never see that name written on the time table again, although his name will remain in the memory for a moment in which he was an involuntary protagonist, such as at the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP.
