Nicholas Latifi endured a difficult qualifying session at the Italian Grand Prix on Saturday, with stand-in team-mate Nyck de Vries outpacing him at Monza.

Williams had a pretty hectic Saturday morning after Alex Albon was diagnosed with appendicitis and had to be taken to hospital for treatment, with him naturally ruled out for the rest of the weekend.

Indeed, FP3, qualifying and, of course, the race still needed to be completed at that point and so the Grove-based team called on their reserve driver, De Vries, to dig them out of a hole.

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The Dutchman really impressed, too, quickly getting into a decent groove with the car and building on his FP1 showing in the Aston Martin on Friday by sticking his Williams into Q2, with him then promoted on the grid, thanks to penalties, to P8.

Latifi, meanwhile, was out in Q1 and, as a driver with far more experience of the car than De Vries, it's obviously not something he'll be looking at fondly when it comes to the timesheets.

Speaking to the press after the session here at Monza, Latifi reflected on his stand-in team-mate's showing:

"He quickly picked up a good pace. He jumped in the car for FP3 and it was quite impressive how fast he went straight away. Everyone knows that Nyck is a fast driver.

“So yes, it is impressive what he has done.”

MONZA, ITALY - SEPTEMBER 09: Nicholas Latifi of Canada driving the (6) Williams FW44 Mercedes on track during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Italy at Autodromo Nazionale Monza on September 09, 2022 in Monza, Italy. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Latifi cut a naturally disappointed figure when discussing the session, meanwhile, asking rhetorically 'how do you think I feel' when reflecting on being beaten by De Vries.

All he can do is try and closer to the Dutchman in the race, then, but it obviously isn't a great look as both drivers are linked with the one remaining vacant seat at Williams in 2023.

Will Nyck de Vries take Nicholas Latifi's seat in 2023?

As mentioned, both drivers are linked with driving for Williams alongside Albon in 2023, and so this is an opportunity for both to show why they should be selected.

Other names are also in the frame but these two have an opportunity this weekend, with De Vries looking to show he's quicker than Latifi and Latifi wanting to show that he has more still to offer the team.

At the moment, though, it's advantage De Vries in this battle.