The latest piece in Formula 1 jigsaw puzzle Has fallen into place when Williams announced that they will part ways with Canadian driver Nicholas Latifi at the end of the 2022 season. This frees up a seat on the Grove-based team alongside Alex Albon.
Latifi has been under pressure to perform at Williams all season. He started the year on the back foot and failed to finish 14th in the first nine races of 2022. Meanwhile, new teammates Alex Albon seemed to start accelerating much faster and even scored in the third race in Australia.
This follows two years saw Latifi go head-to-head with George Russell, who consistently disqualifies the Canadian at almost every major league. As a result, questions have swirled around Latifi’s future with the team for months.
Now, the English team has confirmed that it will not renew Latifi’s contract once it expires at the end of the 2022 season.
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In a statement shared by the team, Latifi thanked Williams “for the past three years.” He added:
“My first F1 debut was postponed due to the pandemic but we ended up in Austria and even though we didn’t get the results together, we hope we will, it’s still the same. a wonderful journey.
“Getting my first points in Hungary last year was a moment I will never forget, and I will move into the next chapter of my career with special memories of my time with this dedicated team. this. I know none of us will stop trying until the end of the season.”
Latifi’s time in Formula 1 has been a mixed journey indeed. During the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2021Latifi’s seventh place scored him his first points in F1 and broke into the team’s top 10 for the first time in two years.
But Saturday in Hungary is still the best result Latifi managed while at Williams. So far, he has scored in just one other race, that Suspicious Belgian Grand Prix last year.
For the first time in his career, Latifi reached the third qualifying round at this year’s British Grand Prix, where he started the race in 10th place but fell to 12th and ran out of points in the race.
One of the Latifi highlights came during this year’s Hungarian Grand Prix weekend. In the final practice session before qualifying, the Canadian topped the timesheet in a steamy session.
Despite finishing the session 0.66 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, he struggled to keep his pace into qualifying and finished the race in 19th place.
Sadly, for Latifi, his legacy in F1 could be reduced to a fateful night in Abu Dhabi. During the final race of 2021, the Canadian driver crashed into a wall on lap 50 of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The incident made the car safe, ultimately determining the outcome of that year’s race and championship. In the fall of Michael Masi .’s fake racing directionLatifi has spoken out about the abuse he received following the incident.
