Nicholas Latifi’s car will now receive the latest FW44 upgrade package, according to Williams, in time for the French Grand Prix this weekend.
The aero upgrades were initially applied to Alex Albon, but due to bad weather at Silverstone and the Anglo-Thai driver’s start-line accident, Williams had little information on the complete revisions.
However, the British team was able to analyse its progress in Austria last time since repairs were made in time for the competition the following weekend there, and Albon was able to finish in 12th place.
The upgrade kit for Latifi’s car has now been prepared by Williams in time for the forthcoming race at Paul Ricard. However, Latifi is the only full-time driver yet to score a point in the 2022 season thus far.
“I’m super excited to get to France because it’s the first race where I’m going to have the upgrade package,” Latifi said. “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.”
“France has a unique track layout with lots of run-off areas, so track limits might be a bit of an issue as it was in Austria.”
“More than anything I’m looking forward to continuing the development of the car and hopefully we can get some good data going forward.”
For the French Grand Prix the following weekend, Williams claims it is now ready to install its most recent FW44 upgrade package on Nicholas Latifi’s car.
The first driver to receive the aero improvements was Alex Albon, although Williams had little information on its extensive changes due to bad weather at Silverstone and the Anglo-Thai driver’s start-line accident.
Williams has been impressed by the FW44’s earlier results despite the fact that it is still far behind in the Constructors’ Championship.
“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,” said Head of Vehicle Performance Dave Robson.
“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.”
