Ex-Williams driver Nicholas Latifi announces surprise next career move

Sam Cooper 2023年7月18日42点

Nicholas Latifi in the pit lane. Baku June 2022.

Nicholas Latifi has made the surprise announcement that he is hanging up his racing gloves for the time being and instead heading back to school.

Latifi’s F1 career came to an end following the 2022 season when his Williams team opted to replace him with young rookie Logan Sargeant.

It marked the end of an interesting career in which Latifi unfairly became the target of many internet memes due to his sometimes underwhelming performances.

As a pay driver, there was little leniency afforded to the Canadian and he did not endear himself to certain sections of the F1 fandom when he inadvertently started the series of events that led to Max Verstappen winning the world title in 2021.

Latifi received death threats as a result and has stayed out of the public eye since leaving the sport last year.

But he resurfaced on Tuesday to announce what was next for him and he revealed he was choosing to move away from racing for the time being in order to study a business degree.

He said: “Hey everyone, I know I’ve been quiet on social media this year. I’ve seen plenty of messages from supporters worldwide asking what I’ve been up to and what my plans will be for the future. As of recently, I have some news I’d like to share with all of you.

“I decided very early on in the year that I wouldn’t have any racing plans for 2023. It definitely felt very strange not having the same routine I’d been in for over half my life. Knowing that I wouldn’t be behind the wheel of a race car this year, I had obviously begun to think of what could be next for me, whether that involved racing or something completely different.

“I decided that for the immediate future, I wanted to take some time and pursue a different avenue and focus on another path.

“Growing up, I always had a keen interest in the world of business, and I always said it was something I would’ve studied at university had I not gone the racing route. With that in mind, and knowing I might be taking a break from racing, I decided that I want to pursue an MBA degree and focus on something that would transform the next phase of my life. An MBA was always something that I had contemplated doing post-racing life, even if that had been into my late 30s and early 40s.”

Latifi went on to reveal that he has been accepted onto the MBS program at London Business School and will begin his studies next month.

“Making the decision early on in the year that an MBA was what I wanted to pursue, I began devoting my time to researching business schools and seeing which ones would be a good fit, preparing an application for them, and studying for the GMAT (a test required by most business schools to go along with your application). This was not an easy process and took many months! Anyone who has experienced the journey of applying to a business school knows how difficult it can be.

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“After a five-month journey from starting the process, I am pleased to say that my candidacy was accepted for a place in the MBA program at London Business School (LBS), which I will be starting in August of this year.

“This decision may seem surprising to a lot of people. Transitioning to a different racing category might have seemed the most obvious move. However, I knew there would always be a life post-racing at some point, and I decided that now might be a good time to prepare myself for that.

“This is not necessarily a goodbye to the racing world forever. Racing has been my life since the age of 13 and is still something I am extremely passionate about. I haven’t missed watching an F1 race yet this season! However, I felt like this year was the right time to explore and pursue other avenues in my life.

“I’m very much looking forward to this next adventure and want to thank everyone who has supported me throughout my career thus far. I hope I can continue to have your support as I take some time to pursue a different path.”