Nicholas Latifi felt the first day of the post-Spanish Grand Prix test was a productive one for both himself and Williams Racing as the Canadian completed one hundred and thirty-three laps of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Tuesday.
Latifi, the current FIA Formula 2 championship leader after three wins in the opening six races, will contest two free practice sessions for Williams in the races in Canada and France, and he used the first of the two test days he has with the team this week to good effect.
He may have finished at the bottom of the time sheets but Latifi felt there was a lot of positives to take away from the day, and he has one more day behind the wheel of the FW42 to further prepare himself for his free practice outings.
“It was a productive day and we completed the greatest number of laps,” said Latifi. “The sessions ran smoothly, and we were able to get through our programme, despite the few red flag interruptions.
“Days like these are important for me to ensure that I am comfortable in the FW42 and understand what it is capable of ahead of my upcoming FP1 outings. I look forward to getting back in the car tomorrow for further testing in Barcelona.”
Dave Robson, Senior Race Engineer at Williams, was pleased with Latifi’s latest performance in a Formula 1 car, and it was good to see him complete so many laps across the day as the team looks ahead to the Monaco Grand Prix in two weeks time.
“Picking up where he left off in Bahrain, and following some more very strong results in F2, Nicholas drove extremely well all day today,” said Robson. “This allowed us to complete almost all the tests that we had planned.
“Over 134 laps, we completed a series of test programmes as we evaluated some new components and began some preparation for Monaco. Today we used mostly the C2 tyre compound, which was the Option tyre at the race weekend.
“Tomorrow we will use a more varied range of tyre compounds as we continue our test programme and complete Nicholas’s preparations ahead of his upcoming FP1 outings in Canada and France.”
