Williams Racing returning to happy hunting ground for Latifi’s home debut

For the Williams Racing Formula One team, partnered by Acronis, the Canadian Grand Prix always represents a special race on the calendar.

The famous team has won the race around the beautiful and iconic Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on seven separate occasions, only behind Ferrari and McLaren on the all-time winners list. Ralf Schumacher was the last Williams driver to triumph in 2001, Damon Hill beating home favourite Jacques Villeneuve on the circuit bearing the latter’s name in 1996.

This year Williams has another Canadian driver in the race seat, Nicholas Latifi looking forward to the challenge of doing the great team proud on one of the world’s great F1 circuits for the first time following two years of Covid-19 interruptions.

“I’m super excited to finally be heading to Canada for my first home race,” commented Latifi on his team’s official press release. “Getting the opportunity to compete at home and seeing all the Canadian fans will be a great feeling.

“It’s another track with long straights, which we seem competitive on. However, some corners may not be particularly well suited to our car, based off my previous experience from FP1 sessions, so that might balance us out a little bit. With it being a double-header, we’ve got the chance to put Baku behind us and immediately use what we’ve learned to make the most out of this weekend.”

For teammate Alexander Albon, the Canadian Grand Prix represents another chance to secure his third points scoring round of the season, on the back of two near misses.

“Canada is a cool circuit and it’s great to come back,” added the Anglo-Thai driver. “I’ve raced there once before in 2019 and it’s a nice mix of chicanes with a good flow to it. So, if you’re good in chicanes you tend to go pretty well around there. You’ve also got the walls which make it really exciting to drive. I really enjoying being in Montreal and obviously it’s a home race for Nicky. I can’t wait for the weekend to get started.”

TEAM UP WITH ACRONIS

Prominent once again on the nose of the car and on the front wing endplates this weekend in Canada are the team’s official cyber protection partner Acronis. Williams Racing uses Acronis technology to add extra layers of protection to its IT infrastructure, protecting hundreds of servers and endpoint devices.

During the 2021 season and continuing this year, Acronis opened up an exciting #TeamUp Program, giving new and existing service providers the opportunity to support sports partnerships, join the sports ecosystem, attend races and enjoy amazing sports marketing benefits. To find out more, please visit https://www.acronis.com/en-us/lp/msp-sports/

Williams Racing FW44 front wings.
Spanish Grand Prix, Thursday 19th May 2022. Barcelona, Spain.

Motorsport Technology