Latifi 'retained his Williams F1 seat on absolute merit' - Russell

Until the mid-race Safety Car at Monza, Latifi was running ahead of his Mercedes-bound teammate.

The Safety Car on Lap 26 allowed Russell to jump ahead of his teammate as he made his pit stop.

Russell ultimately finished ninth to score points for the third time in four races, while Latifi was 11th. 

While Russell makes the move up to Mercedes, Latifi will remain with Williams for a third consecutive season, teaming up with former Red Bull driver Alexander Albon.

Reflecting on his teammate’s performance at Monza, Russell said Latifi's drive showed that he's “retained his seat on absolute merit”.

“Yeah Nicholas did an extraordinary job to be honest, he deserved to be in the points,” Russell said. “He’s really getting stronger and stronger week-in, week-out, finding a lot of confidence and he’s really doing a good job. 

“He retained his seat on absolute merit this year, so I’ve got a lot of respect for how he’s working and going about his business and how he’s trying to improve. As I said he is truly doing a very, very good job.”

Team principal Jost Capito expects Latifi to make another step forward in performance next year.

“We still expect a lot of Nicky this year,” Capito added. “We want him to improve and get better. If you see the data, it’s quite a different view than what is seen in public. He’s had bad luck and technical issues this season where he couldn’t shine in qualifying like he could have done so he could have been much better. We need to give him better support so he can really show his real talent.

“Next year we want him to again make a step forward. Of course, it depends how the car performs next year but no one knows what the level of competition of any car will be next year.”