Nicholas Latifi says additional security was implemented around him and his family as a precaution in the wake of the fallout from last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Latifi’s crash at Yas Marina caused the Safety Car period which led to the controversial conclusion to the title fight involving Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
Latifi received hateful messages, which included death threats, in the aftermath, on various social media platforms.
Latifi issued a strongly worded statement 10 days after the season finale, condemning the situation, and expressed the need for change in that environment.
Speaking for the first time, after the launch of Williams’ FW44, Latifi expanded further on the aftermath of the season finale.
“I think it sounds silly to some people but at the end of the day you don’t know how serious people are,” said Latifi on the threats.
“All it could take is one drunk fan at an airport or bumping into someone who’s having a bad day and is intoxicated or under the influence of something and has these really extreme opinions. All it takes is that one in a million person.
“So yeah… some days I was back in London after the race and I did have some security with me when I was doing certain things. I went to the Winter Wonderland with my girlfriend because we didn’t manage to fit that in before the last block of races and I had some security detail with me on that.
“Again, it sounds funny, sounds silly, but we really did take the threats seriously because you don’t really know what could happen. Just an unfortunate part of the world we live in.”
Latifi explained that he felt it was “an important opportunity” to convey his feelings, and says he received support from Hamilton and personnel from Mercedes.
“For me it was not the nicest feeling, the first day, I think I got over it after two days, but there’s people that unfortunately maybe don’t deal with it so well for whatever reason and it can have extremely serious consequences,” he said.
“That’s why I thought it was important to spread this message of ‘be kind’.
“Lewis did send me a message a few days after, I think just before I released the statement. Obviously I won’t go into details into what he said.
“I got some support from other team members at Mercedes as well. Obviously the whole outcry of support on social media from multiple drivers, teams across so many different disciplines, was really nice to see and encouraging to see.
“Even going outside of motorsport the next most recent one was the Euros with the three British players missing the penalties and all the fallback they got after that.
“It’s just an issue we have unfortunately in the world, we have with social media.”
