Williams have confirmed that Nicholas Latifi will be leaving the team at the end of the 2022 season.
The Canadian finished second in the 2019 Formula 2 Championship to Nyck de Vries, and he got a move to the Williams team for the 2020 season alongside George Russell.
Neither he nor his British team-mate scored points with the team that campaign, although Russell did score with Mercedes during his stand-in appearance when Sir Lewis Hamilton fell ill with COVID-19.
Russell won the qualifying battle 16-0 that year, but the 27-year-old had shown enough to earn him another shot in 2021, and he scored points twice, in Hungary and Belgium.
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Latifi was joined this year by Alex Albon, who took a year away in DTM having left the Red Bull team at the end of the 2020 campaign, and the Thai-Briton has scored points three times in 2022.
The former F2 runner-up has achieved a best finish of 12th this year at the British Grand Prix after making the third and final qualifying session, but this has been a high point in amongst a litany of difficult episodes.
He suffered crashes in Jeddah and Australia at the start of the year and, while Albon has frequently been fighting for points, Latifi has frequently been languishing towards the back.
Signs of improvement were evident in the races in Spain and Monaco, but the 27-year-old’s form have never really kicked on, so is to be released.
At the Italian Grand Prix last weekend, de Vries deputised for Albon after he started suffering from appendicitis, and the Dutchman scored points in ninth while Latifi finished 15th, pushing him down to 21st in the championship.
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The 2021 Formula E champion is being strongly linked with the drive, as is F2 driver, Logan Sargeant.
Williams insiders have also suggested that Nico Hulkenberg, who raced with the British team in 2010, was on the list of potential options for the soon-to-be vacant seat.
McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo is also an option for Jost Capito if he decides to make a move for the 33-year-old, who at the end of the season, will leave the team the current Williams boss led for parts of the 2016 season.