F1 News
Latifi reaches the bottom: 'I really don’t feel the confidence in the car'
- GPblog.com
Lewis Hamilton is having a dramatic season for the time being. Not surprising that all attention is focused on the former world champion. Yet there is one driver who is currently having an even worse year: Nicholas Latifi.
No trust
His results speak volumes: three times this season Latifi finished a Grand Prix in 16th place. The race in Saudi Arabia the Canadian crashed out, while lying fifteenth. His best qualifying result was eighteenth. Teammate Alexander Albon is a lot more convincing in the not-so-fast Williams. The Thai has already scored a point.
Things are unlikely to improve for Latifi. Indeed, the Canadian is struggling with a lack of confidence. "Since Saudi, I just haven’t had a great feeling with the car – this is even before the crashes,” Latifi told The Race. “Any driver will say that when you don’t trust the car underneath you and what it’s going to do, it can be a very dangerous thing. I don’t mean dangerous in the aspect of safety, I mean the car catching you out, having incidents and just not being comfortable to push to the limit."
More at ease
Albon is much better at handling the Williams, Latifi has seen. The former Red Bull Racing driver feels more at ease in the cockpit and has fewer problems with the downforce and balance issues. "I have to get to that level," Latifi realizes.