Latifi: Pit stop gamble that led to points a 'no brainer'

Nicholas Latifi earned his first championship points of the season at Suzuka thanks to a pit stop gamble that the Williams driver said was "a no brainer".

From 19th on the grid, Latifi survived the zero visibility conditions that marked the start of the Japanese Grand Prix, but a red flag deployed after just three laps led to a rolling second start.

Although conditions remained treacherous, the Canadian opted to pit at the end of the opening lap, along with Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel, and swap his full wets for a set of intermediates.

The two drivers quickly gained ground on their rivals, and as the latter peeled off into the pits to change tyres in the following laps, Vettel and Latifi surged into the top ten.

The Williams driver ran as high as P8 but was logically overtaken by the Mercedes of George Russell in the final part of the shortened 22-lap race that he concluded P9, less than a second ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris.

"Obviously it’s nice to get the first points of the season," said Latifi, who will leave the Williams team at the end of the season.

"The crucial thing was getting the Inter on right away, we had the Safety Car in-lap, it was crucial getting the free-air, it was the right tyre, it was a no-brainer for me, being towards the back you have nothing to lose."

• Team Talk - Sunday in Suzuka

Latifi said that he had been the one who had made the all-important call to switch from wets to inters.

"Yeah, it was my call, the right one," he said. "I struggled at the end with the front tyres but I’m extremely happy to hold on and get my first points of the season.

"Overall, I’m really happy for the team and it’s a nice morale boost."

Williams head of vehicle performance Dave Robson praised Latifi for a job well done.

"Nicky did an excellent job in tricky conditions," said Robson. "He was part of the decision to make the early switch to intermediates and this paid handsomely as he soon got into a potential points scoring position.

"Although Russell was able to overtake, Nicky had the measure of the McLarens and managed his car really well to collect his first points of the season."

Unfortunately, Latifi's teammate Alex Albon was forced to retire on the opening lap of the race following a contact with Haas' Kevin Magnussen.

"It’s definitely a shame as I felt like today was a chance to maybe score some points," said Albon.

"I actually had a very good start and was really pleased with it but then with the visibility being so poor, I couldn’t see the car next to me. I couldn’t even see the track.

"I had a light touch with Kevin but where we hit it touched the radiator, we lost water pressure and it was leaking, so we had to stop the car."

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