Latifi admits “frustration and disappointment” caused by F1 exit

Former Williams driver Nicholas Latifi opened up on his exit from Formula 1, admitting leaving the sport caused “frustration and disappointment”. The Canadian, who has been with Williams since 2020, won’t be on the grid in 2023 and instead will be replaced by Williams junior Logan Sargeant. 

Nicholas Latifi will not be back on the grid in 2023. The Canadian driver debuted in F1 in 2020 with Williams and eventually proceeded to conquer nine Championship points during his time with Grove. After three years, however, the team decided not to renew the driver’s contract due to his lack of on-track performance.

As quoted by Motorsport.com, Latifi admitted finding out early in September of his exit did not reduce the discontent: “There’s the extra emotional aspect [fighting for your seat] when things aren’t going well. But at the same time, I still have frustration and disappointment even when I know.

Irrespective of knowing if I’m staying or not, I still wanted to do well, still wanted to end each qualifying, each race since I’ve found out as best I can.

“Just because I’ve known doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter. In a way, [there was] nothing to lose, but still a lot of frustration and disappointment in these last six races.”

Latifi: “F1 was very character-building”

Although the Canadian driver did not particularly impress with his qualities on track, he never hid to have suffered greatly from the backlash caused by his mistakes and in particular the one causing the safety car in Abu Dhabi, hence defining his experience in the Circus “very character-building, to say the least”.

He then went on to discuss his mixed feeling about his time in F1: “Many drivers would kill to do one race, I’ve gotten to do three seasons in F1.

“It’s been tough for sure. I’m leaving feeling like I wanted to accomplish more. I would have loved to have stayed and tried to improve myself, improve with the team. But it didn’t work out. I’ve known that for quite a few races now. And yeah, now time to focus on the next chapter.”

Headline Image: Williams