After a two-year hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Canada will return this weekend to Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. If thousands of people are already stamping their feet at the idea of finally seeing the single-seaters turn on the track, it’s a safe bet that few of them are as excited as Nicholas Latifi.
The Toronto driver from the Williams team will finally take part in the Montreal event for the first time in his career as a regular driver, after 47 starts in F1. The 26-year-old athlete, who is already in his third campaign in the premier series of motorsport, will however not be in unfamiliar territory. He took part in free practice with Force India in 2018, then with Williams in 2019. An experience that may be a little different this time around.
“Yes, it’s a bit surreal to finally be here, in Montreal. It’s one of the historic Grand Prix on the calendar, and because of the pandemic, I haven’t been able to take part in it for the past two seasons. It’s very special, because I was born here, in Montreal, and I grew up in Toronto. I have a lot of immediate family members who still live here, and very close friends, and I know they will be in the stands this weekend,” Latifi said in an interview Wednesday afternoon.
The Ontarian, however, stressed that there will be no upgrades to the car this weekend, which means he is likely to find himself at the back of the grid again. “Obviously I’ve had my share of issues with the car — I’m not as comfortable as I would have liked to be at this stage of the season. But I’m not discouraged, I feel like she [la voiture] still has a lot of untapped potential. And I can do a lot better as a driver,” he continued.
He would still be happy to sneak into Q2 on Saturday, and indicated that he would rely on the vagaries of motor racing – a yellow flag, a track exit, a bad pit stop – in order to gain a few places in the standings on Sunday.
The representative of the maple leaf is still without a point in the standings after eight races this season, and his best result so far was a 14e place at the Miami Grand Prix earlier this spring. His teammate, Alexander Albon, had three points and edged him five times in eight races this season.
Latifi also has a two-point deficit over the other Canadian driver registered in the championship: Lance Stroll. Asked if he might resent being constantly compared to him — after all, their faces are plastered side by side all over town to promote the race — Latifi said he didn’t. is nothing. Even if he did not fail to skin it in passing.
“I don’t feel any animosity towards him. I understand, for the amateur, that it is easy to want to compare us. […] That being said, we have to admit that Aston Martin and we are often in a fight on the track, because they are the closest team to us in the peloton. But again, when we see Sebastian Vettel [le coéquipier de Stroll] finish sixth in Azerbaijan, so we’re thinking that this car obviously has more potential than ours, and it’s faster. Afterwards, it’s up to the pilot to do his job. »
Porpoising creates waves
In addition, Latifi was invited to discuss the hot topic currently in F1: porpoising. This aerodynamic phenomenon refers to the porpoise, a cetacean close to the dolphin, and consists of a jerky movement that makes the single-seaters bounce on the straights, and thus risks breaking parts and hampering the work of the pilots.
Of course, the Gilles-Villeneuve circuit being equipped with long straight lines, there is no doubt that the phenomenon will be in the forefront again this weekend.
Mercedes are one of the teams struggling the most to get the phenomenon under control so far this season, and Hamilton has been complaining for some time now of recurring back pain caused by porpoising. The Briton, seven-time world champion, even indicated that it could become a safety problem for the pilots. An opinion shared by Alpha Tauri pilot Pierre Gasly, in particular.
“There were several moments where I didn’t know if I was going to finish the race and if I was going to be able to keep the car on the track. This is the most painful and hardest race I have known,” said Hamilton after the last race, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
He told Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff that the car “absolutely needed to be modified”. A message taken up by Latifi. “Porpoising was a real problem for us [chez Williams] during winter testing in Barcelona. It’s always a problem, for all the teams, but there is a very simple way to fix it: just change the settings on the car, which will inevitably affect the performance of the car. We have adopted a compromise to avoid porpoising, and I believe that other teams, which are more competitive and whose drivers are very vocal about this, should consider it as well. But I agree that this will have to be sorted out in the long term, otherwise the pilots could suffer irreversible spinal injuries,” concluded Latifi.
The Canadian Grand Prix will get under way with the first two free practice sessions on Friday.