Latifi - “My goal is to win the GP2 title next year”

The 20-year-old from Toronto, Ontario is currently contesting his first full season in the hotly disputed GP2 series, and just did his first test aboard a two-year-old Renault F1 car in order to become eligible for a Super Licence.

Latifi admitted that his first Grand Prix behind the doors of an F1 team has impressed him. “It’s my first weekend behind the scenes. I’m just observing with the radio on,” Latifi told us. “It’s quite a bit different than what I expected. It was surprised by the amount of information the driver has to deal with because the way F1 works, the new technology. The radio clampdown rule makes it quite difficult. I want to learn all that stuff before I run in FP1 later this year.”

When will it happen? “I still don’t know. I would have been nice to announce it here!”

Latifi explained why he and his entourage decided against running FP1 here in Montreal. “We decided against it because it’s still very early in the season and my priority is GP2. It’s been quite a hectic schedule. I just came back from Monaco and I go straight to Baku on Monday night. We wanted to do this properly; I didn’t want to just drive. It would have taken away too much of the focus on GP2. We’ll do it later in the season, which is a good thing because I’ll be a better driver. And I’ll have a better understanding of the Pirelli tires,” he added.

Latifi tested a two-year-old Renault F1 car (a former Lotus-Renault in fact) fitted with a normally aspirated V8 engine to cover the 300 km required to be eligible for a Super Licence.

“When I was preparing myself for my first F1 test, I spent time in the simulator, driving the current [turbo hybrid] car. Driving the 2012 car was still something really great, it’s a winning car, and I got to drive it on one my favourite track [Silverstone]. The current F1 cars are quite different. Honestly, I did not find such a great difference between the old V8 F1 car and the current GP2 car. For sure, there will be a lot more preparation to get ready for my first FP1 session,” Latifi said.

Next season will be very important

So what is the long-term plan for the young Canadian? “My goal is to remain in the programme of the Renault F1 team,” he said. “Realistically, it is a two-year programme in GP2. It’s my first season in GP2, and it’s very difficult for a rookie to win the title. I’d love to do it, but I sometimes put too much pressure on myself. My objective is to go for the title push in my second year. Then, I would love to graduate as an F1 driver after that. Next year will be an important season for me.”

He continued: “We are three drivers associated with the Renault team, I see it as a good thing. The team will want the best drivers in their cars. I’m not competing against Esteban [Ocon], but the team will judge our performance. It’s not a direct competition, but we’re all fighting for a racing seat.”

Latifi is convinced that experience is no longer essential to perform well in Formula 1. “Seeing young drivers and rookies do well in F1 is a very encouraging thing. In fact, all rookies do well. In the past, the top teams only wanted experienced drivers. But seeing Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz and Stoffel Vandoorne perform so well is really great. It shows that you don’t really need the experience that comes with ten or 12 years in F1 to run at the front,” Latifi said.