Williams hails Nicholas Latifi performances against "exceptional" George Russell

Williams

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Williams hails Latifi performances against "exceptional" Russell

Latifi has closed the pace deficit to his team-mate

Ian Parkes & Ewan Gale

Sunday 22 August 2021 11:02

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Williams CEO and team principal Jost Capito has praised Nicholas Latifi's performances for the team and insisted it would be difficult for any driver to partner George Russell.

Latifi is halfway through his second season in F1 and despite initially struggling to match his team-mate in qualifying, race results were impressive in his rookie year.

His consistency has continued through to the second year and whilst Russell has again excelled in qualifying, the margin between the two drivers has closed considerably.

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"For Nicholas, for anybody, it would be very difficult to be in the same team with George," Capito told GPFans Global.

"That's the same as it is beside [Lewis] Hamilton. For everybody, it's difficult, and George is extraordinary.

"He has been in the team a year longer than Nicholas and Nicholas is improving a lot. He is also very professional. I think he's also very good, especially when you look at the race speed. He's doing really great races. He's very consistent. He's very reliable.

"In qualifying, when we look at the data, he has been quite unlucky at times. I think he can be close to George, maybe not as much as George, and George always gets his best lap together. This is very exceptional as well.

Latifi needs "more luck"

Latifi scored his first points in F1 with a superb drive to finish seventh in the chaotic Hungarian Grand Prix having run in the top three early on.

Speaking ahead of the race, Capito insisted the Canadian's talent was not being translated into results due to misfortune.

"For Nicky, the pressure, of course, is being the teammate of George, but those two have a very good relationship and support each other as well," he added.

"It's a very good spirit within the team and Nicholas is working very hard and is getting better and better.

"At the moment, he just needs a little bit of more luck. In Silverstone when he went out [for qualifying], he was unlucky with the wind conditions and George was very lucky with the wind conditions. You can't predict that. It's the difference between a couple of minutes and you can't predict it.

"But we see all the data what Nicky is capable of and he is capable of more than what the results right now show."