Canadian racing driver Nicholas Latifi spoke out on Tuesday after receiving death threats and online abuse due to the events which took place in the last round of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina circuit, which indirectly helped Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen win the race and therefore the 2021 Formula One world title against Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton.
Nicholas Latifi crashed in the final stages of the race in Abu Dhabi, which led to the safety car being deployed, with a change in procedure giving Max Verstappen the incredible chance to overtake Lewis Hamilton on the final, also taking advantage of his fresher tyres. Before Nicholas Latifi’s incident, the Mercedes driver was comfortably leading the race and looked set to take his eighth Formula 1 world title.
The Canadian driver explained in a statement that he had decided to address the issue of abuse after staying off social media to let things settle down. He said he hoped to spark another conversation about the “drastic consequences” of online bullying.
“I’ve received thousands of messages to my social media accounts…most have been supportive, but there’s been a lot of hate and abuse, too. As we’ve seen time and time again, across all different sports, it only takes one incident at the wrong time to have things completely blown out of proportion and bring out the worst in people who are so-called ‘fans’ of the sport. What shocked me was the extreme tone of the hate, abuse, and even the death threats I received.” – he added.
Nicholas Latifi said that he had apologised to his team for the crash and that the rest was out of his control. He explained that he was no stranger to negative comments about his performances and that having a thick skin was part of being involved in the sport as a competitor:
“But many of the comments I received last week crossed the line into something far more extreme. It concerns me how somebody else might react if this same level of abuse was ever directed at them.”
Scuderia Ferrari also reacted to the statement issued by Nicholas Latifi and sent a support message for the Williams driver, which was posted by the Maranello team on its official Twitter account: “We do not tolerate any form of social media abuse.” – Scuderia Ferrari wrote
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