Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Nicholas Latifi

  • Latifi to leave Williams

    Williams have announced that Nicholas Latifi will be leaving the team at the of the 2022 season – when his current contract expires, after three seasons with the team.

    Following several free practice outings, Williams handed Latifi his F1 race debut in 2020 – the Canadian driver making 55 race starts and scoring seven points to date.

    The team said that they will announce who will join Alex Albon in their 2023 line-up “in due course” – Nyck de Vries recently staking his claim with an impressive stand-in performance at the Italian Grand Prix.

    I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at Williams Racing – all the people back at the factory and those I work with trackside – for the last three years. My initial F1 debut was postponed due to the pandemic but we eventually got going in Austria and, although we have not achieved the results together we hoped we would, it’s still been a fantastic journey. Getting those first points in Hungary last year was a moment I’ll never forget, and I will move onto the next chapter of my career with special memories of my time with this dedicated team. I know none of us will stop putting in every effort until the end of the season.

    Latifi on the news.

    On behalf of the whole team, I would like to say an enormous thank you to Nicholas for his three years of hard work with Williams.He is a great team player who has a great attitude towards his colleagues and work and is well liked and respected throughout the business. Our time together is now coming to an end, but I know he will put full effort in to maximise what we can do together for the remainder of this season. We wish him all the very best of luck for his future, both in and out of the cockpit.

    Jost Capito, Williams CEO and Team Principal.

  • Piastri closing in on deal for 2023

    Oscar Piastri is closing on a deal to drive for Williams in Formula 1 next season, with his debut potentially confirmed by the end of the month

    The Alpine test and reserve driver has been the talk of the paddock as he is one of F1’s most promising young drivers, and wont a hat-trick of titles across the Formula Renault Eurocup, Formula 3 and Formula 2 from 2019 to 2021.

    But, he missed out on an instant F1 graduation for 2022, as Alpine had no room and they could not find or agree a deal for Piastri to go on loan elsewhere. Piastri has spent 2022 so far testing last year’s Alpine alongside his role as the team’s reserve driver.

    The Aussie, is still under contract with Alpine for next year but is thought to have a release clause of some kind if he does not have a deal agreed for him to race in F1 by the end of June. Alpine is still not able to put Piastri in its own team as Esteban Ocon is contracted to the end of 2024, and two time world champion Fernando Alonso is all but confirmed for 2023.

    Alpine has made it clear that in the circumstances it is happy to let Piastri join another team but on a short term basis as they are not keen to lose such a highly rated driver permanently. Multiple sources have indicated the solution looks increasingly likely to be loaning Piastri to Williams.

    It’s to be rumoured, that Piastri’s move will be announced at the British Grand Prix, as that even begins at the end of June – the aforementioned contractual deadline for Alpine to secure Piastri’s future and the race at which Alpine’s team principal, Otmar Szafnauer hoped to be able to confirm its driver plans.

    Williams is clearly amenable to such an arrangement as for the 2022 season, the British team struck a similar deal with Red Bull to sign Alex Albon, whom Piastri is likely to partner when he makes his F1 debut. Albon has been extremely impressive in 2022, whilst his team-mate Nicholas Latifi has struggled, lacking pace and also suffering some expensive crashes.

    Latifi’s position at Williams has so far been guaranteed by the funding he brings and his father was also integral in helping the team manage some debts early in pandemic, that helped Latifi extend his stay till 2022, but its is not expected to last beyond a third season.

    But rumours continued to fly around at the Azerbaijan GP, that Piastri could replace Latifi from this year’s British GP onwards. Latifi has denied these claims and denied he would leave the team mid season and expects to stay until the end of the year…

  • FW44

    FW44

    Williams have revealed their 2022 livery on a showcar today, with the British team conducting a shakedown with their real car at Silverstone.

    Which means Williams used one of their two allocated filming days to run the FW44 with new driver Alex Albon and returning driver Nicholas Latifi splitting the duties. The teams ambassador and ’09 World Champion, Jenson Button was also in attendance to see the new car turn its first laps.

    The team founded by Sir Frank Williams and now owned by Dorilton Capitol enjoyed improved fortunes last season to finish 8th in the constructors championship.

    The team from Grove, is having an similar approach to Red Bull, with teams keep to keep their secrets hidden on the new cars for as long as possible.

    “Over its history as an iconic Formula 1 team, Williams Racing has shown great strength and sophistication,” said Team Principal Jost Capito. “The new visual identity of the 2022 car perfectly encapsulates these characteristics that the staff, drivers and fans have demonstrated time and time again. As we move into the new era of our sport, the FW44 highlights the transition to the future, as well as acknowledging the timeless qualities that make us who we are. Last season we were thrilled and proud to make such strong advancements as a team, with a number of well-earned points-scoring results in addition to a podium.”

    Latifi added: “I’m a fan of the new livery. Keeping the blue was important as it’s synonymous with Williams Racing, but it’s a pattern we’ve not seen before and the fluorescent red will pop on track which I really like. It’s a fresh new look to start off the new era of F1. I’m super excited for testing in Barcelona, to get back behind the wheel, push and see what the car can do. Pre-season always feels like quite a long time, but it’s been really busy and there’s been a nice build-up at the factory with lots of hard work from everyone. The new regulations should allow for much better racing so I’m excited for the challenge and we will aim to gather some good data from testing, to take us into the first few races.”

    Albon, who replaces George Russell after a year as reserve for Red Bull, said: “The FW44 livery is clean and simple. I like that we’ve gone for more blue with the dynamic diamond finish and a little bit of red; it looks really good and I’m looking forward to seeing it out on track. The upcoming Barcelona track session will be about making sure we’re efficient with our time to best ensure we have a competitive package heading into the season. We don’t have many days before our first race and so we quickly need to understand which areas of the car are strong and where we need to make improvements. I’m sure it will be a little bit of a learning curve as we all try to learn how to get the most out of the new regulations, but the objectives and the way that we focus on this car is very much the same as in previous years. Ultimately, we’re all still trying to get a racing car around a track as quickly as possible.”

    My Opinion-

    You know what I absolutley love the car & suits. The different shades of blue again look really good in the way they’ve designed it, as well as the splash of red on the car too. The car just looks so clean and fresh but also keeping the blue which is known to the Williams team.

    The race suits look really nice! I’m not really a fan of the white ones so having dark suits are a lot better!

  • 15.02.22

    The last date for car reveal has been announced, this being Williams. The team from Grove will be showing the world their car on the 15th February, a week today with an online event at 1pm GMT.

    The team, which was sold by the Williams family to Dorilton Capital in the 2020 season, has previously indicated it will retain the traditional naming convention for its cars. The 2022 car is yet to be named.

    This year will see Nicholas Latifi in his third season with the British team. Following George Russell’s departure to Mercedes, former Red Bull driver Alex Albon will be returning to F1 after a year out will be taking the other spot at Williams.

    Heavily-revised regulations are sweeping through the sport for the 2022 campaign, which means that combined with the budget cap there is opportunity for teams like Williams to take a sizeable step forward from their efforts last season where they finished 8th overall with 23 points.

  • Alex Albon is back…

    The seats keep on going… I’m happy to say that Alex Albon is joining Williams Racing for 2022!

    This comes as George Russell announced he was driving for Mercedes next year, so it was only a matter of time till Williams announced their line up.

    Alex joint F1 in 2019 and made his debut with Toro Rosso, he then replaced Pierre Gasly at Red Bull Racing halfway through the season and then stayed at Red Bull for the 2020 season too. However it was over too quickly, as Red Bull announced they won’t retain him for the 2021 season and instead go for Sergio Perez. It then got announced the other week Perez will be staying at RB for the 22 season aswell.

    Alex got put into the test & reserve driver role for this year, whilst also competing in DTM.

    A Red Bull spokesperson told F1.com: “We have released Alex to become a Williams Racing driver in 2022 but retain a relationship with him that includes future options.”

    Albon said: “I am really excited and looking forward to returning to a Formula 1 race seat in 2022. When you take a year out of F1 it’s never certain you will make a return so I’m extremely thankful to Red Bull and Williams for believing in me and helping me on my journey back to the grid. It’s also been great to see all the progress Williams have been making as a team this year and I look forward to helping them continue that journey in 2022.”

    Nicholas Latifi’s contract was also up this year and it got announced at the same time as Alex’s that they will be team-mates for the 22 season. The pair use to be team-mates back in F2 where they drover for DAMs.

    Latifi said: “I’m excited to be continuing with Williams for another year; partly because of F1’s new technical regulations, but also because the team is moving in a more competitive direction with new owners, management and people on the technical side.

    My Opinion-

    I think this is great! I didn’t see Williams having two new drivers to the team, so I can understand why they wanted to retain Nicholas. For Alex its amazing to see him back, I felt like he wasn’t given a proper opportunity to show his talent before but now he is in a Williams and with a team who want to work their way back up the grid and Alex seems like the perfect driver to help them with that.