Williams has confirmed both George Russell and Nicholas Latifi will remain at the team for the 2021 Formula 1 season.
Their retention is not unexpected after it emerged Mercedes has agreed in principle to keep Valtteri Bottas for next year, meaning Russell will have to wait another 12 months at least to get his chance.
“I have no hard feelings or anything towards Mercedes, there’s nothing more they can do,” he told Sky Sports ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix on Thursday.
“Ultimately, I had a contract with Williams, Claire [Williams, deputy team principal] was very firm in her standpoint that she’s not ready to let me go and I have to respect her decision.
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“I’m still young, I’m still a Mercedes driver and I’ll be going out there [Budapest] to build off last year, to build off the first few races and continue to try and show what I can do.”
As for Latifi, he made a solid start to his F1 career across the two races in Austria, but his biggest asset is the sponsorship brought by his father Michael.
Indeed, it is thought the Canadian billionaire is set to invest big in Williams, with the team currently undertaking a “formal sale process” to find new funding.
As a result, Nicholas’ future does seem pretty safe at the Grove-based team, who said he had signed a multi-year deal with them.
