Latifi no longer 'the old': 'We said nothing was wrong'

In the last race of 2021, Lewis Hamilton looked set to win the world title until Latifi crashed with a few laps to go in Abu Dhabi. The safety car came out, giving Max Verstappen the chance to make one more attack on Hamilton on fresh tyres. This is what the Dutchman did when the safety car went in with one lap to go, and in doing so he won the world title.

Lack of confidence

Latifi was bombarded by angry fans after his crash. As a result, the Canadian took a break from social media and, according to his team boss Capito, he has not been the same driver since that day. "We had to keep giving him the confidence. We said that there was nothing wrong," Capito revealed at the High Performance Podcast.

Capito admits he did not want to get too involved in the situation. The German thinks that could only have made the situation worse. "That’s something everybody has to get over on their own. He was fully aware that he had our backing."

Dramatic year for Latifi

Latifi is having a bad season in 2022. The Canadian loses out to teammate Alexander Albon who has scored four points for Williams, while Latifi is still on zero points. The biggest disappointment was the weekend in Italy in which Latifi saw Albon's substitute, Nyck de Vries, score points on his debut. According to the latest rumours, the Dutchman and Logan Sargeant therefore stand a good chance of taking over Latifi's seat in 2023.