F1: Williams unfazed by 2023 driver speculation

(GMM) Nicholas Latifi admits his first and only points of the season so far in Japan came too late for him to retain his Williams seat.

Only the British team as well as Haas now have vacancies for the 2023 season – with Mick Schumacher reportedly in the running for both of them at present.

Mick’s uncle Ralf hopes the 23-year-old extends with the small American team.

“I believe both sides have a future together and should take advantage of what they have been working on for almost two years,” he told Sky Deutschland.

“I think Haas is a team that is slowly moving in the right direction, although it’s uncertain how much budget will be available for next season and what the engine will be like.

“But the improvement from Mick’s side is clear.”

As for Williams, the Grove based team’s head of performance Dave Robson says it is critical that a driver “who will push Alex (Albon) along” is signed for 2023.

This year, Canadian Latifi has notably struggled to match Albon, even if he finally opened his points account in Japan.

“If a decision hadn’t already been made about my future, I don’t think a race like this would have changed things much,” he said after finishing ninth at Suzuka.

“It’s mostly about consistency throughout the year, not a single good result.”

Robson explained: “We need someone who’s be fighting with Alex in every race. Ideally someone who is after similar traits from the car.

“We’ll see where we go but all we want to do is have two competitive cars pushing each other into Q2, Q3 and beyond.

“But we don’t take too much notice of the speculation for next year. Yes, there’s preparations going on in the background, but really, Jost (Capito) is dealing with that.”