Nicholas Latifi takes podium in Abu Dhabi

Driving for French team DAMS, Latifi took third place in the Sprint Race, as fellow Renault Sport F1 Development Driver Oliver Rowland had his Feature Race victory stripped off him after a technical infringement.

The Toronto native had a quiet start to the Formula 2 finale, going 15th in the morning session, before improving to 12th in qualifying. “We could’ve been around the top five in qualifying, but I made a mistake on my second set of tyres and lost a lot of time, which was always going to make it more difficult in the Feature Race,” said Latifi.

The Canadian showed strong pace on the soft compound tires later in the Feature Race, as he fought through to finish seventh - which turned into fifth after penalties were applied. He impressed during the Sprint event, as he scored his ninth podium of the season with third.

“I struggled with tire management earlier in the Feature Race, but in the end we came on stronger,” Latifi declared. “I had a really good start on Sunday and wanted to get the win for the team after Saturday’s disappointment, but we didn’t quite have the pace. Still, it’s great to finish the season with another podium.”

Latifi ranked fifth in the final drivers’ standings with 178 points. Charles Leclerc took the title with 282 points ahead of Russian Artem Markelov (second with 201 points) and Briton Oliver Rowland (Latifi’s teammate at DAMS), third with 191 points.