NICHOLAS Latifi is raring to race for a third weekend in a row as Formula 1 arrives in Hungary.

Oxfordshire’s teams take in the final leg of a triple-header to start the 2020 season on Sunday, before enjoying a week’s rest to recharge for the first of two consecutive British Grand Prix in a fortnight’s time.

It is a demanding schedule, but Latifi, who drives for Grove-based Williams, is only too happy to keep racing in his debut campaign.

He said: “I am excited to get back going straight away.

“Personally, I am a fan of the back-to-back races, especially as I am in a period of learning and the more information that I can take on is just going to accelerate that.

“Although triple headers can seem quite a lot, for me it’s ideal.

“Budapest is a track that has never been one of my favourites on the calendar, but I have had some of my better races there in the past, so I’m looking forward to hopefully continuing that trend.”

The Canadian driver was 11th on debut in Austria, but only managed 17th at the same circuit last weekend.

Williams are yet to score a point this season, with Latifi’s teammate George Russell also experiencing a frustrating race.

Hopes were high when the Englishman qualified 12th, but he dropped through the field to finish 16th.

Russell said: “I think the circuit characteristics will suit our car better than Austria did.

“We have got a bit of work to do off the back of the race in Austria, as our race pace wasn’t as strong as our qualifying pace, so we need to understand why.”

Part two in Austria was more successful for Daniel Ricciardo, who finished eighth to get off the mark for Enstone-based Renault.

Neither the Australian nor teammate Esteban Ocon set a time during a soaking wet second practice yesterday, but both are optimistic heading into today’s qualifying session and the race tomorrow.

Ricciardo said: “The morning was pretty good and I felt we got into it right from the get-go.

“It was a bit like the first session in Austria, when we got into the track quite quickly and found a solid base set-up straight away.

“I’m happy with the start to the weekend and I’m feeling good.”

Ocon added: “We can see we have a fairly quick car, however, we’ll need to confirm that when it counts.

“At the moment, it’s a good start to the weekend, I’m comfortable in all conditions and we’ll see what weather we have for Saturday and Sunday.”

Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean will seek to get the first points of the season for Haas, who have a factory in Banbury.

The latter was eighth-fastest in practice two and came home 13th last time out, one position behind his teammate.