Head of Engineering at Williams, Dave Robson emphasized that Nicholas Latifi's underperformance is due to a lack of confidence in the FW44
New year, new cars, new regulations. None of this was enough to improve Nicholas Latifi's performance in 2022. It is true that the FW44 also leaves something to be desired, but the Canadian's difficulties are even more noticeable to newcomer Alex Albon, who has already scored twice this season.
According to Williams engineering chief Dave Robson, the biggest hindrance for Latifi is exactly in the car. "I think he's still a little bit under-confident and just adjusting the tire setup circuit by circuit to give him the confidence he needs," he said in Monaco. "I think it was a shame [the Monaco qualifying]. If he had taken a bit more out of TL3, I think Q1 would have been much better," he added.
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"At the end of Q1, he was a bit frustrated because actually he probably had a lot of confidence in the car, but he just couldn't get the front end right," he followed.
In qualifying in Monte Carlo, the driver was 19th. In the race, he finished 15th. Robson also points out that, in addition to getting the tires right, the aerodynamic setup is something that has been breaking Nicholas' mind - which #6 himself commented on afterwards.
"I think in qualifying, he just didn't have enough confidence to get the front wing and therefore the aerodynamic balance on the car," Robson closed.
"I think there are some balance issues that we would like to improve, which are inherent in the car. But I think going to Barcelona has just highlighted the lack of downforce we have compared to other cars," Nicholas commented.
"It's a track where you usually put everything you have in terms of downforce. And we were losing a lot in the high-speed corners, based on the data. I think it gave us some good directions for the factory and for the long-term development of the car," he finished.