Nicholas Latifi says he had no chance of scoring points at the Italian Grand Prix despite crossing the line in 11th place.
The Canadian was running as high as seventh place during the frantic race at Monza, but dropped a number of positions at the second start following a red flag period.
In the final handful of laps, he was running behind Kimi Raikkonen and overtook the Alfa Romeo driver for 11th, but then had to concede that too big of a gap existed between himself and Sergio Perez for the final points paying spot.
When asked after the race if he could’ve secured Williams’ first points of 2020, Latifi said: “To be honest, no not really because the next cars were so far ahead.
“Even replaying all the scenarios in my head, if I managed to maintain some of my positions at the start and everything like that, the same cars would’ve still got by me.
“It’s unfortunate, but then again I still think we can be happy with the performance in a part of the race.
“The result, I’m well aware I lucked into that, I had a good starting position for the second restart because of pitting before the safety car.
“But then we had some pace to maintain relative to the cars we were supposed to be racing against.”
The grand prix marked the final time that the Williams family would run the track activities at an F1 weekend, following their decision to step down from their roles.
Although Latifi has only been part of the Grove-based squad for a short time, he says it has been a privilege to represent them.
“It is the joint best result of my rookie season so far, but slightly disappointing too as a top ten would have been a great send-off for Claire and the Williams family,” he said.
“Ultimately this weekend was about giving thanks to them for everything they have done for the sport, the team, and for me.
“I have only been with them a short time but they have had a huge impact on my career. It has been a privilege to represent them, and it’s really sad to see them go.
“I tried my best to give them a memorable last race, and I think it certainly was, even if I just missed the points this time.”
Discussion about this post