Speculation regarding the second seat at Williams F1 Team for the 2020 season is increasing with Nicholas Latifi getting more time in the driving seat for the upcoming United States Grand Prix and the Brazilian Grand Prix.
With the Formula 2 championship won already by Nyck de Vries in Sochi, Latifi is currently in the running for second place against Luca Ghiotto, Sérgio Sette Câmara, and Jack Aitken with one race weekend of the championship left in Abu Dhabi.
The young Canadian has driven the FW42 seven times already this season and is looking forward to heading back on track, this time taking over from George Russell.
“Coming off Free Practice 1 last week I feel that I am more in the rhythm of the car, which is important when you only have a limited number of laps in the session,” explained Latifi.
“Austin is probably one of the tracks on the calendar that I am most looking forward to driving that I have not yet driven.
“It seems like a track that has a bit of everything and the first sector, with all the fast-flowing corners, is exactly what I love in these high downforce cars.
“It’s not so often that I get to drive new tracks for the first time so I’m looking forward to that challenge and hopefully I’ll be able to get up to speed quickly.”
As the 2019 season heads in to the twilight and with nothing to lose for the team, focus switches to the 2020 season.
Pirelli will be providing two extra sets of tyres with the 2020 construction and Latifi’s test programme includes further aerodynamic testing, 2020 tyre testing, and the usual qualifying and race preparation.
Robert Kubica faces an uphill struggle as he faces the circuit for the first time, “I know very little about the track in Austin,” admitted the Pole. “I know what I have seen from footage and the simulator, but it will be a new track for me.
“From what I can see it looks like a challenging circuit, especially the first part of it. However, I am looking forward to a new experience.
Russell is relishing the challenge of Circuit of the Americas, despite not getting any track time during the first practice.
“Austin is a track and a race that I have been looking forward to for a very long time. Out of the newer
“It is a track similar to Silverstone, with an incredibly fun first sector. I have been there the last two years and it was always a great atmosphere, so I am really looking forward to it.”
