Rookie Latifi eyes qualifying gains as confidence grows

Nicholas Latifi says improving his qualifying performance is a focal point amid growing confidence with Williams’ FW43 this season.

Latifi replaced Robert Kubica at Williams, becoming the sole rookie on the 2020 grid, and at Silverstone’s back-to-back races finished within sight of team-mate George Russell.

Latifi was 2.5s behind Russell at the finish of the British Grand Prix while at the Anniversary encounter he classified six-tenths behind the Mercedes junior.

But in qualifying Latifi has been comfortably outclassed by Russell at each of the five events, lagging over half a second behind the Briton.

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“I think coming into the season whenever I was asked about my expectations the first thing I always said is I want to feel I’m making gains,” he said.

“I’m making steps, in my understanding of the car, how comfortable I am in the various situations of the car, and I’ll keep chipping away at it, and go in that direction.

“Probably the Saturdays I have not seen quite the… potential. The progression is there but the actual result and the outcome to go along with that is not what I’d hoped it would have been at this stage.

“I think that’s probably the one point that out of the first races I’m a bit disappointed with.

“There’s only really been one qualifying I’ve been happy with, we’ve been unlucky in some qualifying [sessions], but I have also made mistakes in some of the session where the car had more potential.

“I’ve still got to work on it, but everywhere else, especially the race pace and race management, especially the last two ones, have been on a nice upwards trend.”

Latifi added that feeling increasingly at home within a Formula 1 environment is assisting his progress.

“There’s so many elements I feel I’m getting more comfortable with overall: the engine modes, strategy, when I need to use it,” he said.

“I’m starting to have, let’s say, a bit more spare mental capacity to think about and manage effectively all these extra things. There’s so much in F1 to manage besides [the driving].

“[Silverstone] was by far the race I felt the most comfortable in that respect, so I’m looking forward to keep chipping away at that.”