Nicholas Latifi thinks he deserves more time to prove he belongs in Formula 1.

With key backing of his Iranian-Canadian businessman father's Sofina Foods company, the 27-year-old made his debut for Williams in 2020.

But it is now rumoured that a driver like Mercedes-backed Nyck de Vries could be drafted in to replace Latifi for 2023, after the Canadian struggled to match teammate Alex Albon's pace in the first half of this season.

Latifi, though, insists he has recently improved.

"I feel much more comfortable now," he is quoted by motorsport-total.com. "I am able to get much more from the car and from myself.

"I think I deserve to stay in Formula 1," Latifi insists. "This was not the case at the beginning of the year but the team can evaluate my results since the performance increased."

He even claims that his earlier struggle this year may have had a technical explanation.

"At Silverstone we changed the chassis and the performance was there," said Latifi.

"We couldn't prove there was anything wrong with the chassis, but I'm 99.9 percent sure there was something wrong with it. Perhaps it didn't fit with the parts that I used.

"I didn't change anything at Silverstone. I was demoralised after Montreal, but in Britain the results went uphill."