Nicholas Latifi admitted that Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix was ‘very challenging’, with the Canadian finishing down in fifteenth after an early collision with the wall at the Grand Hotel Hairpin.
the Williams Racing driver nudged the barrier at the hairpin when the track was at its wettest, but despite this, he made an early call to switch to the intermediate tyre, a move that enabled him to move up a couple of places.
Ultimately though, the Canadian struggled throughout the race at the Circuit de Monacoand he ended up in a battle with Alfa Romeo F1 Team‘s Zhou Guanyu other Scuderia AlphaTauri‘s Yuki Tsunoda in the final stint.
“Wet conditions are always tricky and even more so on a street track like Monaco!” said Latifi. “It was a very challenging race and after pitting early on, we were detached from the back of the pack but we did have good pace on the intermediate tire to catch the field back up.
“The last stint on the medium tire proved quite tricky as I didn’t feel completely comfortable with the balance.
“However, we managed to bring it home, which isn’t easy in these conditions, and also picked up two places from the guys we were racing around which is a positive.”
“It’s probably a weekend to forget for us” – Alexander Albon
team mate Alexander Albon failed to see the checked flag after an issue curtailed his afternoon, and the Thai driver felt it was a weekend to forget for him.
Albon’s car started to bounce unexpectedly down the straights late in the race at Monaco, with the team deciding to retire him on lap forty-eight rather than risk any kind of crash.
When running in clear air, Albon felt the car was performing well and was competitive, but despite this, and the fact he was often in traffic, he was never in contention for the top ten.
“It was a tricky day out there and a bit of a scruffy performance from my side, too,” admitted Albon. “The conditions meant that getting the brakes in the right window was really challenging, especially with all the variation that a drying track brings and the red flags.
“The car felt good whenever we had clean air though and I did feel competitive at points, so there are some positives to take away from today.
“Unfortunately, towards the end of the race I had an issue with the car which meant I had to retire. I think it’s probably a weekend to forget for us, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”
Alexander Albon retired late on in Monaco – Credit: Mark Sutton / LAT Images
