Latifi, a lack of performance due to lack of confidence

Nicholas Latifi is having a very difficult start to the 2022 season. Making errors in the very first races, and then being by far the slowest driver on the grid, before getting attention again at Monaco with a near comical loss of control. The Canadian is clearly not performing well at Williams this year.

With his best result being a 14th place finish in Miami (largely aided by the five retirements ahead of him, as he finished second-to-last on the track), Nicholas Latifi is the last driver, alongside Mick Schumacher, to have not yet opened his points account. Of course, the car has a significant share of responsibility, but Alex Albon managed to score three points, which clearly shows that despite a underperforming FW44, anything is still possible. Latifi just seems unable to seize the opportunities like the Thai driver can.

For Dave Robson, chief engineer at Williams, these difficulties encountered by Latifi are partly explained by a lack of confidence. In general, I think he still lacks a bit of confidence and it’s just a matter of adjusting the tires at each circuit to give him the confidence he needs, he had declared in Monaco.

Robson also finds it unfortunate that the Canadiens were not able to put everything together in Monaco. « I think it’s a bit unfortunate [the qualifications in Monaco], if he had driven a bit more in FP3, I think Q1 would have been much better. I think at the end of Q1 he was a bit frustrated because he probably had a lot of confidence in the car by the end. »

This lack of confidence comes from the general lack of support from Williams for Dave Robson. I think that ultimately, in qualifying, he simply didn’t have enough confidence to have enough front wing, hence enough aerodynamic balance in the car. So I think that’s probably what happened here.

His position being threatened for 2023, Nicholas Latifi will have to find solutions if he wants to continue in Formula 1.