The likely final Japanese Grand Prix of Nicholas Latifi’s F1 career was also one of his best racing weekends. Because the Canadian, as in Hungary last year, once more proved a certain ability to shine in the rain, and to make the most of a well-inspired strategy, finishing in 9th place.
‘Nicky’ race engineer Ernesto Desiderio offered a behind-the-scenes look at the Williams team during this lively and very thorny Japanese Grand Prix.
How was this strategic success first built? For the race engineer, it all started on Friday in free practice, where already Williams had been able to have a precise understanding of the behavior of the Suzuka track, in wet weather.
“It’s the result of several things. It’s a bit of teamwork that started on Friday, when we didn’t think we might race because of the deluge. »
“We knew the rain was going to be heavy, but we saw a space, an opportunity to go out on track, so we got some experience with the intermediate tires and the wet tyres. »
“I think that was really the key to understanding how the track was. It was good for us to learn that on Friday and add it to our information bank. »
A second decisive moment, for the establishment of the best possible strategy, was during the long red flag on race Sunday – following only 2 laps of the circuit, the red flag was deployed and the engineers might think of the best strategy.
Ernesto Desiderio raconte …
“There are some things you can do [pendant cet intervalle le dimanche], but it is ultimately quite little. »
“The rules specify a few things – regarding eight or nine things you can do, like changes for rider comfort, cooling changes… You can change the wing pitch. You can change brake cooling and other things. »
“The power unit, the brakes, everything has to be considered when you know it’s cold and there’s water on the track. The work cycle of the car is very different. You must ensure that the set is suitable for the conditions. »
Thank you Nicky’s intuition… and the Friday ride
Above all, the race engineer was able to think of the best strategy for the restart: that is to say stopping Nicholas Latifi to switch from rain tires to intermediate ones.
Nicholas Latifi was thus among the first drivers (with Sebastian Vettel) to bet on the intermediaries: a bet that immediately paid off since the Canadian suddenly overtook the peloton, who followed his example later, that is to say say too late.
“It came out of our Friday work. We learned everything we needed regarding these two tires. »
“Nicky had very clear ideas regarding the behavior of these two tires on the track, intermediate and maxi-wet. »
“We discussed all this at length just before restarting the race following the red flag. »
“In the end, it’s a lot of teamwork that started on Friday and which materialized. »
“Nicky had the best information, and he anticipated everything behind the safety car. It was like, ‘Oh, that’s something I can do,’ and it was a really, really good choice on his part. »
“It was a great team effort. We managed to do something really good there. We undercut a few cars – seven or eight, I think. »
“Between Nicky, myself, and the pit wall… if the three of us think the pit stop should be done, then it’s a chain of decisions. »
“And we were all on the same wavelength: We get him in, we change the tyres… Let’s go! »
Was Desiderio afraid that all the other drivers would imitate the Williams strategy? Did he think he was the only one with the right intuition?
“We didn’t say much on the radio so as not to give our competitors too much information regarding what we were going to do. »
“At the end we thought more people would come to the pits, but that wasn’t the case. »
“It was just us and [Sebastian] Vettel at that time. We had big smiles on our faces because we knew this was going to help us. »
