Nicholas Latifi says the success of other recent Formula 2 graduates gives him confidence heading into 2020.

The Canadian finished second to Nyck De Vries in the feeder series to F1 last year and will be the only rookie on the grid albeit facing a tricky situation at Williams.

But having seen three of his recent predecessors quickly rise to seats at Red Bull and Ferrari, Latifi sees the impact those drivers have made as a reason for optimism.

“I think even going beyond last year, Charles [Leclerc] and Pierre [Gasly], F2 has shown that it’s a great proving ground for drivers,” he told Crash.net.

“Drivers who have been able to step up to F1 have shown they can do the job right away, so for sure this brings confidence for me. I hope to emulate that.

“Specifically as you said, Lando [Norris] and Alex [Albon], they didn’t win the championship last year, but they’re still performing extremely well, so I’m in a position where I’ve lost out on the championship, unfortunately, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be capable of doing the job.

“A lot of the grid now is made up of very young guys, which I have raced against. From that side of things, it’s a bit of familiarity. It won’t be as much of a jump at the deep end.”

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Latifi isn't short of F1 experience ahead of his first season of racing having been associated with Renault and Force India before joining Williams as a reserve driver last year.

But despite having shared the track with the rest of the current grid before, he does expect the experience of doing so competitively will be different.

“I guess racing against the more established guys who have been there a while, I’ve done FP1s so sharing the track with them won’t be completely new, but for sure it will be something cool to properly race with them for the first time,” he smiled.

“Like I said, it will be a challenge. We’re not aware where exactly I’m going to be relative to George [Russell] at the beginning of the season.

“It’s impossible to know exactly as a team, but I’ll do everything I can to achieve the maximum performance.”