Williams rookie Nicholas Latifi says he is getting a better handle on how to approach one-lap performances in Formula 1 in spite of his current whitewashed record against George Russell.
Latifi, the only rookie on the 2020 grid, has yet to out-qualify Williams team-mate Russell.
It continues a theme from 2019 when Russell completed a season whitewash against Robert Kubica.
Latifi, who carried out a three-run strategy in Q1 at the Nürburgring last weekend, set a best time that left him 0.248s behind Russell.
“Even though I didn’t feel like I got the most out of the car I feel like there were some steps made,” he said.
“Some small differences in how my natural driving style is and what works in some corners and also what works in certain cars when the car is a certain way.
“More often or not, especially in qualifying with the way our car is, I’m having to kind of shift away from how I instinctively want to drive.
“But in combination with that it’s not only about changing my driving style, it’s kind of putting the car in a slightly different window that allows me to drive in that different driving style, which I think in many situations is quicker but it’s just not how I naturally like to drive.”
Latifi explained that adopting a similar approach to Russell is facilitating his cause.
“You can get the lap time in many different ways, braking later to gain a tenth on entry, lose a tenth on exit, or vice versa,” he said.
“I’m trying to make an effort on that, trying to get more in line with what George has been doing because obviously more often than not he’s been getting the most out of the car.
“So although there’s a lot of corners that I could be quicker in, I think in general the way I’m driving the car right now is not giving me a lot of margin for error and it’s more often that I’m going to overdo it on the tyres or get a big snap, not do a clean lap.
“I’m curious now to see how it’s going to be at the next rounds if I can just continue that.
“Because although I was disappointed with the qualifying [in Germany] I was kind of pleased that I felt like I was kind of doing more what I needed to do, it was just that I did a few messy laps because I’m not used to that yet and didn’t have so much practice to fine-tune that.”
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