Alex Albon missed the race weekend in Monza, due to appendicitis. Had his appendix removed and gained a cool scar. (His words)
To replace him for the weekend, Williams brought in Mercedes reserve driver and 2020/2021 Formula E Champion Nyck De Vries.
On his Formula 1 debut and only 30 minutes in the car before Qualifying, Nyck out qualified his temporary teammate Nicholas Latifi. Latifi was knocked out of qualifying in Q1, Nyck was able to make it through to Q2.
After all the grid penalties were applied for the race, Nyck started p8 and Nicholas Latifi started p10.
During his first ever race though Nyck showed great skill and ability by remaining in the top ten throughout. Eventually finishing only 1 place down from his starting position in 9th; scoring 2 points for himself and the team. He is now 2 points ahead of permanent Williams driver Nicholas Latifi.
Nicholas Latifi is now joint 21st in what should be a 20 driver championship. This should be a stark wake up call to Dorilton Capital.
Nicholas Latifi does bring with him a decent amount of money. This has never been confirmed, but speculations put it in the region of 20-30 Million. His billionaire father also loaned Williams a substantial sum during the peak coronavirus pandemic, however this was all paid back when Dorilton Capital bought the team from the Williams family. They paid back his loan, so they only remain a sponsor.
Its also important to remember that now, money isn’t needed as much as it was before. Dorilton Capital are huge and have a very deep set of pockets. The advantage of the sponsor money being brought in by Latifi’s Dad will no doubt be costing them more in the long run; with the team losing out every time Latifi sends it into a wall, car or whatever; plus the lost prize money through bringing in zero points. Keeping Nicholas on for any longer will no doubt become more and more of a burden for the team.
Nyck De Vries coming into the team this weekend and scoring points in his debut, has struck the final nail all the way into the coffin. Latifi is done. While I like him as a person and he clearly is skilled to even reach Formula 1 in the first place. It just doesn’t suit everyone. If the weekend with Nyck has taught Williams and Dorilton Capital anything, it is that their car is worthy of scoring more points than it is currently doing.