Williams expected to be further off the pace after tricky F1 test

Latifi and team-mate Alex Albon propped up the timesheets on Friday at the Bahrain International Circuit, finishing half a second off Aston Martin, which was the next-slowest team.

Latifi’s best lap time was 2.5 seconds off pace-setter Max Verstappen’s effort, while Albon was a further two-tenths of a second behind.

Williams finished eighth in last year’s constructors’ championship after scoring its first points in three seasons, and had hoped to take another big step forward under the regulation change for 2022.

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But Latifi explained after practice on Friday evening in Bahrain that Williams’ struggles in the second test meant the team had thought it would be even further behind.

“I guess it’s kind of where we expected to be after the test last week,” the Canadian said.

“To be honest, I was expecting to be further off than where we were, and I think there are some easy areas where we could…

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