Nicholas Latifi received a torrent of death threats and abuse on social media after the Abu Dhabi GP 2021 came to an end.
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Formula 1 driver Nicholas Latifi hired security in London after receiving death threats in the aftermath of the Abu Dhabi GP 2021.
The Williams F1 team driver’s crash late in the race led to the Safety Car period; that, in turn, cost Lewis Hamilton a record eighth world championship after a few controversial calls.
However, Latifi received a torrent of death threats and abuse on social media thereafter. It led to condemnations from the whole F1 community and the Williams team as well.
“It sounds silly to some people but at the end of the day you don’t know how serious people are,” Latifi said at Tuesday’s launch of the new Williams car for the 2022 season.
“All it needs is one drunk fan at an airport, or you bump into someone who is having a bad day and they are intoxicated under the influence of something and they have these really extreme opinions. It takes just that one-in-a-million person.
“I was back in London after the race and I had security with me when I went to Winter Wonderland with my girlfriend.
“You have to take the threats seriously because you don’t know what might happen and it is just an unfortunate reality of the world we live in and there were extreme death threats which went way over the line.”
He also added that both Hamilton and Mercedes sent him messages of support afterwards.
“Lewis did send me a message a few days after the race. I will not go into what he said, but I got messages of support from other team members at Mercedes and there was an outcry of support from drivers and teams on social media, too, which was nice to see.”
Latifi will be a part of the Williams team alongside British-Thai driver Alex Albon for the 2022 season. Albon replaces George Russell, who left the team to join Mercedes on a multi-year deal.
There will be intense scrutiny on both Albon and Latifi. The former will be under pressure to kickstart his career after a year out of the sport and a forgettable Red Bull spell.
For Latifi, the challenge will be to now make the team his own after the departure of Russell. The young Brit was a massive presence both on and off the track, and often overshadowed the Canadian.
Nevertheless, Latifi showed clear signs of improvement and consistency in 2021, even taking his first points finish at Hungary.
How much he can kick on from there will also, to an extent, depend on the newly-launched Williams car. The 2022 F1 season gets underway from March 18 onwards at Bahrain.
