Latifi struggles to explain ‘strange’ crash behind Safety Car in Monaco
Williams driver Nicholas Latifi had the greatest difficulty in explaining his crash which occurred last Sunday at the Monaco Grand Prix behind the Safety Car at the start of the race.
In Monaco, the drivers started the race behind the safety car after a storm disrupted the start of the event, which was postponed twice. But while the single-seaters were idling behind the Safety Car, Nicholas Latifi made a mistake at the hairpin on the Monegasque track – the most lent bend – and shot straight into the TecPro barriers. In his misfortune, Latifi was lucky not to damage his Williams too much and the Canadian was able to get back on track immediately to try to catch up with the peloton.
Asked after the finish of the event about this unfortunate incident, Latifi had the greatest difficulty in explaining what had happened, the Williams driver describing this action as “very strange”: “It was something strange. I have to understand what happened, because for me I didn’t do anything wrong. I braked, then the car started accelerating as I turned. It’s kind of like the accelerator pedal got stuck and it pushed me into the barriers, so it was very, very strange. » explained Nicholas Latif after the race.
Despite this minor crash, the Canadian was able to return to the track and participate in the Monaco Grand Prix, but the Williams driver did not score any points in the Principality after crossing the finish line in 15th place.
“I had a good pace on the Intermediate tire to catch up, but then the last stint on the slicks was tricky. There was no longer the same balance on the car and I had a lot of graining. I had to survive until the end. I still managed to take two places from guys we were racing against, which is a positive, but in a race like this there is so much going on and with this incident with the car at the start, it’s just frustrating, because again, we could have been more in the rhythm of the others and I don’t know what could have happened then. »
After the Monaco Grand Prix, Nicholas Latifi is still one of the two drivers on the grid (along with Mick Schumacher) who have scored no points since the start of the season.