Both Williams drivers to use upgrades at French GP

Williams

Both Williams drivers to use upgrades at French GP

Albon's Silverstone crash delayed Latifi's package

Ewan Gale

Tuesday 19 July 2022 14:55

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Nicholas Latifi will finally drive the updated Williams at the French Grand Prix this weekend.

Alex Albon was given the upgraded package at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone and showed encouraging pace, despite wet weather across the weekend proving difficult for data collection.

The Thai-British driver was caught up in the first corner incident, meaning there were only enough parts for his car in Austria a week later/

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The sprint in Austria again curtailed learning time for the team but the early signs suggest the package will allow both drivers to enter the midfield fight and ahead of the final double-header before the summer break, Latifi will get the chance to use the upgrades for the first time.

"Having introduced some new parts to Alex’s car over the last couple of races, we are now in a position where both cars can run with the upgrades," explained Williams head of vehicle performance Dave Robson.

"Although the weather in Silverstone, and the sprint format in Austria were not ideal for testing, we have seen enough encouraging feedback to be confident that we have taken a step forward.

"With the weather likely to be warm, dry and stable this weekend, we’ll look to use Friday’s running to get Nicky up to speed with the new parts and also to continue to understand how best to exploit the performance of the new package."

Latifi "super excited" for upgrades

Canadian Latifi has struggled in comparison to team-mate Albon, with a relative lack of pace and numerous incidents blighting his season.

But with the upgrades being fitted to his car, Latifi said: "I’m super excited to get to France because it’s the first race where I’m going to have the upgrade package.

"We’ve seen some positive signs from it on Alex’s car so far, so I’m looking forward to getting my first taste.

"Hopefully, it can bring us that extra bit of relative pace that we’ve missed and put us more in the fight."