F1 Italian GP: Should Williams drop Nicholas Latifi mid-season?
Losers from the F1 Italian Grand Prix 2022
Nicholas Latifi
The writing is on the wall for Nicholas Latifi as he was comprehensively beat🌼en by Nyck de Vries.
Latifi has 🗹struggled𒉰 considerably since the start of the year, failing to adapt to the new ground effect cars, while Williams’ lack of downforce has exacerbated the issue.
Given de Vries’ lack of time in the car, Latifi's failure to out-qu෴alify him (or make Q2 at Williams’ best track of the year) was unaccept🃏able.
It’s clear that Latifi isn’t good enough for F1 and de Vrౠies would be an immediate upgrade.
Would Williams consider replacing him mid-season to bed de Vries ahead of 2023?
Due to 🐈Latifi’s fina🌳ncial contribution to the team, it’s unlikely, as they were reluctant to drop him earlier in the year for Oscar Piastri.
Sergio Perez
What has happened to Sergio Perez?
It’s not long ago he was be൩ing talked about as a potential title contender (I mean, that was never a realistic possibility).
His qualifying form has been abysmal as of late, qualifying around 0.9s off Max Verstappen at Monza, while the gap in the races be✱fore that was over half 💯a second.
Perez needs to up his form or he’s at risk of ♓dropping to fifth in the championship.
Alpine endured a disastrous weekend at Monza, which is a surprise as many tipped the French outfit to go well due to the impressive speed they’ve shown t♑his year at low downforce venues.
Fernando Alonso was forced out of the race early due to a suspected water pressure issue, while Esteban Ocon couldn’t recover from h𓆉is engine penalty into the points.
Thankfully for Alpine, McLaren weren’t able to f𝓰ully capitalise with♏ Daniel Ricciardo retiring from the race while running inside the top 10.
Aston Martin
It was a weekend to forget for Aston Martin with both Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel retirin💟g due🥂 to technical problems.
Vettel stopped on track after just 12 laps due to an ♎ERS issue, while Stroll p🐈ulled into the pits to save his engine.
Singapore will surely be better for the Silversto🃏ne-based ou🃏tfit.
Winners from F1 Italian Grand Prix 2022
Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen has now won five races🦩 in a row.
It’s crazy to think that Sebastian Vettel’s record of𓃲 nine consecutive victories in 2013 is now under threat.
On paper, the Singapore Grand Prix is Red Bull’s biggest test out of the remaining six races with Ferrari and Mercedes typically strong on high downforce circuits.
We’re witnessing greatness this se꧒ason and nothing can seem to 𝓡stop Verstappen, as seen at Monza.
Pierre Gasly
Pierre Gasly made a welcome return to the top 10 at Monza - only his second points finish in eight raceꦑs.
Monza is the scene of Gasly’s famous maiden F1 victory in 2020 so it was no surprise to see the Frenchman bac🧜k on ꧋form at AlphaTauri’s home race.
Gasly qualified and finished inside the top 10 - something that has been a rarity th𝓰is season given AlphaTauri’s struggles.
Nyck de Vries
As a last-minuteꦜ replacement for Alex Albon, de Vries performed remarkably for ꦕWilliams on his F1 debut.
Considering he only had half of FP3 to get up to speed, de Vries’ achievement cannot be understat﷽ed.
He progressed into Q2 and fi☂n𝐆ished in the points, clinging onto the DRS train by starting on the softs.
One overlooked point was how he lost little time whilst being lapped by Verstappen✨, allowing him to break DRS to Zhou Guanyu behind.
Zhou Guanyu
Zhou has quietly enjoyed an impressive run ꦜof form since the Azerbaijan🧜 Grand Prix.
He’s 5-4 up on Bottas (engine penalties due play apart) but there’s no doubt that Zhou has made siz💮eable improvements since his debut in Bahrain.
He’s deserving of a second year with Alfa Romeo and a third points finish of the🌊 year is a just reward for his recent run of form relative to Bottas.
With a sharp eye for F1’s cont🅠roversies and storylines, Con🌌nor is the heartbeat of our unbiased reporting.
