Latifi praises De Vries GP debut: "I was extremely impressed"

Nicholas Latifi was not initially in awe of Nyck de Vries ' performance in his Grand Prix debut at Monza, but the Williams driver has since come back to that. He thought his one-time teammate's performance could indeed be called impressive.

Latifi admits that he realised he had everything to lose when he heard that De Vries would step in. This is in contrast to the debutant De Vries, who Latifi said actually had 'everything to gain'. "That's the reality of it because if in the end, Nyck ends up being a second off me, no one is going to think anything of it. I was extremely impressed with what Nyck did," said the Canadian at the Beyond the Grid podcast.

Latifi impressed by De Vries

Latifi, therefore, says he has a lot of respect for De Vries, something he also expressed when he made the switch from Formula 2. De Vries did not get that chance at the time. "I have a lot of respect for him, obviously he was the one who beat me in the championship in Formula 2 in 2019, he’s obviously a Formula E champion and is an extremely quick driver, I think I even said in 2019 that he definitely deserved a shot to be on the grid," the Williams driver continued.

The Canadian, who will have to make way for up-and-coming talent Logan Sargeant next year, believes De Vries "did a fantastic job" during his GP debut at Monza. "He had a clean start which I think was very difficult to do in these cars in your first race and he managed the tyres well, he did an amazing race," Latifi said, adding that the Dutchman's ninth-place finish was "extremely impressive".