Nicholas Latifi openly admitted that he doesn't feel comfortable with the FW44 yet after a poor start to the 2022 season.
The Canadian racer arguably came into the stylish form of his Formula 1 career as the 2021 season approached half and further, Latifi actually ending the season at a analogous performance position to George Russell in the Williams.
That line has veritably much been in rear though in 2022, Latifi constantly adrift of new platoon- mate Alex Albon, his troubles compounded by several big shunts.
Williams master Jost Capito says the platoon remain completely behind their motorist, with Latifi confessing that he doesn't have enough confidence in the auto underneath him.
"Since Saudi I just have n’t had a great feeling with the auto, indeed before the crashes,"he said.
"Any motorist will say when you don’t trust the auto under, what it’s going to do, it can be a veritably dangerous thing.
"I do n’t mean in the aspect of safety, I mean in terms of the auto catching you out, having incidents, and not being comfortable to push the limits.
"So indeed when the pace is fairly okay, or strong, it’s not inescapably that I still have the feeling like ' okay, I ’m happy with the way I feel '. I suppose that's commodity that will just come with time."
Latifi was asked to name the areas in which he was floundering with in the FW44, but explained that in every area he doesn't feel comfortable.
"It’s far and wide," he verified. "As soon as you're not flat out on the straights, that's when it starts. Alex is easily more comfortable with the auto.
"Anyhow of the pace of the auto, we know we ’re missing downforce, we know we're floundering with balance issues. This is clear, but he’s doing a better job in managing it.
"I've to get to that position. And, again, for me, it's just a pure sense and confidence thing with the auto, it’s not driving style, or that I ’m retarding too late, not carrying enough speed, this and that. still, you can’t begin to work on the further specialized aspects, and that ’ll always be the case, "If you don’t feel the confidence with the auto. So confidence first, and also everything differently is secondary, really."
Williams ’ head of vehicle performance Dave Robson says that the FW44 has shifted in how it behaves under breaking compared to its forerunners, the FW44 staying “ enough flat ” thanks to the “ low and stiff ” lift height, whereas “ the reverse of the auto would have come up a lot ” in the once times. still, also Latifi believes it would help his situation, If there was more give in the FW44. still, he knows that he must point the cutlet at himself too, since Albon is making better use of the FW44.
“ For sure, it’s going to be a bit of both, ” he said.
“ Obviously, if one motorist on the other side of the garage isn't happy with the running of the auto, but is at least suitable to manage it more, you can say that I surely need to try and get to that position. And that's for sure the case.
“ But since Saudi that’s not passing, each stage I do I actually do n’t feel it’s making any progress. There could surely be some changes to make to perhaps bring it a little bit more to me, not in the sense of stabilising the auto, because that’s not what we need to do. We did that in Australia, and it did n’t work.
“There are other parameters you can play with, perhaps to try and have a further forgiving auto. So that’s commodity to suppose about, going forward. ”
He added “ The pure feeling I've with the auto, its running tendencies, and how confident I'm push it on the limit, indeed if the balance isn't what we want as this platoon, it’s just still not where it needs to be right now. ”
Asked if the way that Albon is developing the FW44 is taking it down from Latifi’s relish, he responded “ Not at all. ”
Latifi’s lack of confidence was added up at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, the Canadian pitting one stage after Albon for dry tyres, concerned about making a mistake around the drying, tricky Imola track.
Albon went on to finish P11, while Latifi was P16.
“ Obviously, we were relatively close to each other on the first stint, ” he told journalists after the race.
“ And originally when I came out of the recesses, I allowed
I was going to be ahead of him, because he did n’t feel anywhere in sight.
“ I guess the track was easily ready for the copters. But just the overall feeling I still have with the auto, just lacking the confidence with it, I was surely not going to want to be the first one to go to copters.
“ I was happy to let other people go first, just to confirm it was fine. In the end, I guess that was relatively expensive for a lot of track time.
“ I just lost out with the after stop. For me, it’s just about the cons of the pace I ’ll take from moment. Whether you finished P11 or P12, or P18, it makes no difference to us right now. ”
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