Williams Signs Nicholas Latifi To Replace Robert Kubica For 2020 Season

Robert Kubica has been replaced by Formula 2 frontrunner, Nicholas Latifi at Williams for the 2020 season.

Latifi, who completed six FP1 sessions and three days of testing this year for the Williams team, has long been a favorite, so the news does not come as much of a surprise.

He had to finish at the top five of the Formula 2 championship to guarantee that he would get enough super-license points. He is currently in second place with the Abu Dhabi rounds to go for the weekend to secure the needed license points.

It has been a rough season for Williams, considering they have been at the back of the field for the majority of the races.

George Russell, though, has been the silver lining considering his strong debut campaign as the Brit showed impressive speed, managing to beat his veteran teammate Kubica in all races.

Russell was already signed up for the next season considering his deal was for several years, but the identity of his teammate was what was in question.

Williams had limited options at first considering their lack of performance during the year meant they were not the highest on driver’s wish lists, and they did not have a large budget to attract experienced drivers looking for a challenge.

There was some hope Esteban Ocon would go to the team as the French driver had spent time at Mercedes and became the reserve driver after losing the Racing point position.

All hopes of him going to Williams vanished when he was snatched up by Renault for the 2020 season.

That would leave Nico Hulkenberg without a drive, and he was briefly considered. However, it became clear that a return to the team that provided his debut to Formula 1 was not something that either party was interested in.

Latifi has since issued a statement that he had enjoyed working with the junior team. He also said that he looked forward to the journey ahead and is excited to make his Formula 1 debut at the Australian Grand Prix next year.

Deputy team boss, Claire Williams, stated that everyone at Williams had been very impressed at what Latifi had achieved this season at Formula 2 along with the commitment he had to the team.

She added he had become an established and respected member at the team, and they are looking forward to him stepping into his new role as they work their way up from the back of the field.