Nicolas Latifi wins first F2 race in Bahrain

DOMINANT WIN FOR WILLIAMS F1 RESERVE DRIVER CANADIAN NICOLAS LATIFI EVEN AFTER A DIFFICULT PITSTOP

Having started from fourth, Latifi gained a position at the start and then made a great move to take the lead several laps later.

Pitting for tires while leading the race, one of the mechanics struggled to get the right rear wheel on as it seemed a faulty air gun was to blame. Rejoining the race and having lost the lead, Latifi patiently made his way back up the order to finally make his move for the lead. He then opened up a comfortable gap to take the checkered flag with 8.7 seconds ahead of second place finisher Louis Delétraz. The podium was completed by Nick de Vries.

During the press conference, asked about how special this win was following a tough qualifying and the difficult pitstop during the race, here is what Nicolas had to say: “There’s no better way to start: first win of the season, I’m really happy! The qualifying, obviously, I was at the front for most of it and in the end I dropped to fourth which was disappointing. I was still starting from the sharp end and in Formula 2 that’s all we really need – especially on a track like this. The race makes a big difference”, he said. “Over the winter testing, we worked really hard to try and make the car as good as possible, making sure that everything was good. We were quite confident with the race pace. Sure, we did not make things easy with the pit stop. It’s the first race of the season, they’re human you know. Thankfully, they gave me a great car so I had the pace to go back to the front. The hard work paid off and I was happy I could reward them with this win.”

There is a second race taking place tomorrow(morning for us NDLR). It is available to view on TSN5 and scheduled to start at 7:10am.

Image: nicolaslatifi.com