Nicholas Latifi: “It felt really nice to be properly racing in the pack”

Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi finished the British Grand Prix in twelfth place, missing out on the chance to convert his tenth place grid position to a points finish on race day. He enjoyed being able to compete in the midfield on race day rather than filling a backmarker position, and said that he was surprised by his ability to keep up with the pack at the start of the race. 

“From lap one we were always fighting an uphill battle. At the beginning I was surprised at how much I could stay with the cars ahead but in reality, there was a little DRS train that was keeping me there because the cars behind were much quicker. It felt really nice to be properly racing in the pack.”

Latifi said that the car ultimately didn’t have the competitive edge to allow him to fight for a points finish. Floor damage further hindered the Canadian, who said that points weren’t “meant to be” this weekend. 

“Unfortunately, we didn’t have the basic pace in the end alongside managing the car towards the end of the race. The car’s lacking downforce compared to the others with us missing pace in the high-speed corners, which wasn’t helped by some floor damage today.

“We put up a good fight, but it wasn’t meant to be today. Frustrating in the end but overall a positive weekend.”

“It’s a shame our race ended before it began today” – Alex Albon

Team-mate Alex Albon got tangled in an incident just after the race start which involved several drivers. The intense crash ended his race, and he was sent to the medical center. Fortunately, Albon and Zhou Guanyu, who was also sent to medical after the incidents were both okay, as well as the other drivers that were impacted.

Albon shared his gratitude for the on-site medical personnel and the staff of Coventry Hospital, and looks forward to going again at this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix.

“I’m very glad that everyone else involved in the first lap incident is okay. Thank you to all the medical staff at the track and Coventry Hospital. It’s a shame our race ended before it began today, but we are already fully focused on Austria. Bring on the next one.”