The under-fire F1 driver fighting for his future

It’s rather a wild scene on the terrace atop the Williams motorhome. That Nicholas Latifi amiably led GP Racing up here solo, without ‘handlers’, after greeting us in the Silverstone paddock three floors below says much about
 the man. The unforgivingly blustery wind sending ominous slate-grey clouds in the Canadian’s direction (and threatening to upset the pot plants) says much about the current 
state of his Formula 1 career.

Except, of course, it doesn’t – because this is Silverstone and any minute the heavy skies
 will give way to bright sunshine, heat ready to rapidly evaporate any lingering precipitation. And repeat. It is here that Latifi, whose 2022 season so far has been underwhelming – 
to put it generously – will reach Q3 for the 
first time in his career.

“Definitely not the way I had hoped for it to be going,” he replies when GP Racing asks what he thinks of his campaign so far. “That’s clear. 
The results are not what I was hoping [for].”

Latifi has never hidden away from his disappointments. While many of his contemporaries stomp off in a huff when a 
race has slipped through their fingers, he owns it – and will talk you through it at length, with a disarming self-awareness.

“I say a lot of words to probably say something that doesn’t need so many words to say, but that’s naturally how I speak,” he explains. This isn’t a world-salad PR technique he’s adopted to avoid answering difficult questions in F1, it’s just how he is: open. A two-minute conversation with a devastated Latifi after he’d lost a maiden Formula 2 win at Barcelona in 2017, distracted by a wing mirror falling off, ran close to 600 words on page. That’s twice the average rate of the English-speaking west.

It’s therefore not hard to imagine his pain at reading the horrendous barbs sent his way by the anonymous bottom-feeders of the internet since last year’s season finale, in which his late crash had the unfortunate consequence of deciding the championship. These ran the gamut of hate belchings to actual death threats. Latifi was so shocked he sent out a lengthy statement calling out the trolls, and had to employ security staff. He insists, however, that he had “fully” processed those events and their toxic aftermath before embarking on his third season with Williams.

Latifi has now fully processed the traumatic events that followed his unwitting role in last year's title decider, but has had a tough 2022 to date

Photo by: FIA Pool

Unfortunately for Latifi, his aims for a 2022 clean slate did not start well. At the season opener he qualified last, six places behind new team-mate Alex Albon. A race of pain with terrible tyre wear followed. At the next round in Jeddah, Latifi crashed in both qualifying and the race. Then in Melbourne he and compatriot Lance Stroll collided in qualifying, for which the Aston Martin driver was penalised.

“At the beginning of the year, [the problem was] the feeling with the car and not having that trust or confidence with it,” he says. “And of the past races, even though that’s maybe still a little bit of a factor, I don’t feel it as much. But it’s just things still aren’t clicking the way I would like.”

Latifi feels “part of it is just our car and its characteristics – the overall downforce, which we need to improve”. But Albon, out for his own fresh start in F1 after a wild and chastening two years with AlphaTauri and Red Bull followed by a season on the sidelines, has scored two points finishes.

For all that Latifi’s family has done to support the team through troubled times – not just through sponsorship, but also through loans when another major sponsor defaulted in 2020 – F1 is an unsentimental business

While celebrating 10th and ninth in Melbourne and Miami respectively is not what the British team had been hoping for coming into the season, given its progress since its 2018-2019 nadir, Latifi hasn’t come close matching those results. Even after starting 10th at Silverstone, Latifi slid back after losing his place in the DRS train during the pitstops and then damaging his floor running wide at Copse, ending up 12th.

The 27-year-old is struggling with the switch to the ground-effect formula cars, which reward very adaptable and instinctive racers. This is down to the often-unpredictable results of porpoising and the new Pirellis adding additional understeer at slow speed. Latifi also struggles with the FW44’s through-corner balance apparently being off and from the 18-inch tyres giving him less in terms of feel and absorption when fresh, even if their new designs mean they can be pushed for harder and longer.

“It’s [now] more unforgiving when you get to the limit, or when you go over, compared with the previous cars,” he says.

But Latifi is adamant that certain aspects of car performance, particularly the lack of stable through-corner balance, have persisted throughout his time at the team. He also says the 2021 car’s tendency to be extremely wind-sensitive carried over to the initial 2022 concept. The team ultimately deemed this package would not suffice and so introduced a major overhaul, initially just on Albon’s Silverstone car, which takes its cues from Red Bull’s rapid RB18.

The disappointing notes of Latifi’s season have been exacerbated by rumours about his immediate F1 future. There was speculation
 he would be replaced at the Silverstone round
 by reigning Formula 2 champion Oscar Piastri. Although this failed to 
come to pass, it suggests a certain direction of travel in the behind-the-scenes negotiations between team grandees.

Latifi reached Q3 for the first time in qualifying at Silverstone, but has yet to score any points this season

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

“I saw those rumours, which was obviously quite funny to read,” says Latifi. “Because of obviously how false that was.”

Ditching Latifi mid-season, while not an impossible scenario given any contract can be shredded for the right price, doesn’t appear 
to be on Williams’ radar. But still, team
 boss Jost Capito wasn’t exactly showering Latifi with praise when he said at Silverstone: “You can never confirm [he’ll not see out the season] but it’s not the plan. If he breaks a leg, we have to have a replacement.”

Latifi’s goal for the rest of 2022 is to “focus on what I can do” and “improve the performances”. “Then,” he concludes, “whatever happens for next year will be as a direct result of that.”

Further Silverstone-like qualifying performances will help. But Latifi’s on-going struggles with race pace and tyre management remain problematic, even if, as he insists, his car’s lack of downforce is a limiting factor. That’s a problem for his ultimate F1 future.

Williams, which values Latifi’s technical feedback but feels he’s prone to overthinking his driving, openly said last year that Dorilton Capital’s investment means it no longer needs to consider drivers bringing financial backing or works-squad support – it can pick on talent alone.

By Latifi’s own admission, he’s not made the big step F1 drivers in their third season usually make if they’re going to cut it – especially if they’ve spent those years in a single squad. 
Of the 2019 rookie intake Lando Norris and Russell did it last year; Albon sat out the 
season; and Mick Schumacher will have to demonstrate progress in 2023 (if he’s still on the grid). Latifi, so far, is on the wrong side of F1’s ultimate test: the stopwatch.

In mitigation, Latifi’s 2020 debut came 
just as F1 slashed pre-season testing by a quarter, plus he had to learn his trade at a team grappling with added financial woe thanks to
 the pandemic. Socially distanced on-event working practices that year designed to keep employees safe would also have made it a challenge to integrate with the team.

But Williams is an organisation with refreshed ambitions. For all that Latifi’s family has done to support the team through troubled times – not just through sponsorship, but also through loans when another major sponsor defaulted in 2020 – F1 is an unsentimental business. The best drivers can swim against the current but those who don’t quite make the grade, no matter how likeable, get swept away…

It remains to be seen if Latifi will be on the F1 grid in 2023 as Williams is no longer in a state of financial peril that means it requires well-backed drivers

Photo by: Williams