Nicholas Latifi says Williams FW43 is ‘definitely a step forward’ as his F1 debut wait continues due to coronavirus pandemic stall.
The important of confidence in F1 cannot be overstated, and equally, it is extraordinarily important that the car instills that in a driver. If it fails to do so, it can lead to errors. For example, in the early stages of 2019, Daniel Ricciardo struggled with braking, largely due to a lack of confidence that he had with the Renault’s brakes.
Luckily for Williams, though, Latifi is feeling confident already as the new FW43 inspires him to attack, and provides that vital confidence to do so. He feels that the car is already a step forward from the disastrous FW42, which further derailed the team’s performance.
“It’s [Williams FW43] definitely a step forward,” said Latifi. “It’s difficult to quantify how much, because it’s always the same in winter testing, you never really know what people are doing with engine modes and fuel levels, but just from my first feeling in the car it was definitely much nicer to drive, giving the driver much more confidence to push and attack the corners, which is what you want.
“We’re going to see where we are in the pecking order whenever we go racing. We’re optimistic, it definitely is a step forward, but we’re just going to have to wait and see just how much.” Latifi is in a strange situation where he has to wait more for his F1 debut.
“I would say there are not really any nerves,” said Latifi. “I’ve kind of said that from already starting winter testing as the official race driver, for me it just felt like a continuation of the work I was doing with the team last year.
“I was already really comfortable in the team environment. To be honest, all the stuff that made it feel a bit more like I was the race driver was all the external – all the media, the fan interactions, it’s just at so much more of a higher level.
“Right now everything is still calm. Maybe once I’m waiting on the grid and the lights are about to go out, that’s probably when I’m going to notice.” For now, he will have to wait until June – or even later – to get that feeling. He is more soaking that feel on simulators.
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The story was edited by Darshan Chokhani