'Russell is my best team-mate ever, better than Ocon and Albon'

Williams driver Nicholas Latifi is full of praise for current teammate George Russell. According to the Canadian driver, Russell is the best teammate he has ever had in his racing career, better than both Esteban Ocon and Alexander Albon.

Latifi and Russell have been driving for the Williams team since the 2020 season. Before coming to Formula 1, Latifi was a teammate of Ocon in Formula 3 and then Albon in Formula 2. Of those three, he thinks Russell is the best.

“Yeah, I would definitely say so", he said on the Beyond the Grid podcast on whether Russell is his best teammate ever. “I mean, I think it’s a bit tricky because I’ve had some really strong team-mates, a lot who have been in Formula 1 or currently are in Formula 1, so I’ve got the experience of driving against people with different driving styles, strengths, weaknesses."

Laitif continued: “I think naturally though, the latter years of my junior career are the fair benchmark to kind of say how strong a team-mate is because naturally, I feel a better driver than I was, let’s say, in Formula 3 in 2014, team-mates with Esteban."

Now that he has been driving alongside Russell for almost two years, he does know what his strengths are. “Now, in Formula 1, driving against a guy like George… Yeah, I would definitely say he’s probably one of the strongest, if not the strongest, especially over qualifying. In qualifying, George is by far the best."

The Canadian says it is the Briton's consistency, rather than his raw speed, that sets the two apart. “I think one of the things George is really good at in qualifying specifically is building up the pace lap by lap, finding the time without over-pushing, let’s say", he added.