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Williams chief executive Jost Capito claims the impact of last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix has “impacted” Nicholas Latifi in 2022.
The Canadian has become synonymous with a dramatic championship final at Yas Marina as his crash in the final laps saw the safety car battle for the title in the final lap between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton , following some controversial decisions by former race director Michael Massey.
Since then, Latifi has been the victim of abuse by a group of fans, even being dubbed “Goatifi” by another group for his unwitting role in determining the outcome.
My message after the events in Abu Dhabi https://t.co/uYj7Ct6ANQ pic.twitter.com/eThFec8nAi
— Nicholas Latifi (@NicholasLatifi) December 21, 2021
Capito recently spoke about how Williams tried to pick up the 27-year-old in the days after the game.
“We have to keep giving him confidence,” he told High Performance Podcast.
“We said nothing wrong and everything was fine, but it was very difficult because it was the end of the season and they were all on holiday.
“So he’s not around every day and we don’t intervene too much because we know what’s going on, we know what’s going on.
“He’s shut down his social media, so if we interfere too much, I think we’re going to make it worse.
“He is fully aware that he has our backs and we absolutely believe he has done nothing wrong.
“Crashes shouldn’t happen, of course, but if you’re racing, you know, crashes can happen. When we never blame the driver for it, there can be crashes, otherwise if you don’t want to crash you have to stay home.”
Despite the assurances, Latifi has been poor this year and is currently the only full-time driver yet to score, which was confirmed on Friday Canadiens won’t be retained by Grove team next season.
Capito does believe events in Abu Dhabi continue to haunt the Toronto native.
“It’s very difficult, I think it’s difficult for everyone, I don’t think everyone who hasn’t been through it knows what it’s like,” he said.
“So even if you turn off social media, you’re still in touch with other people who still see it, and it’s going on, you just can’t escape.
“I think that’s part of the reason why it took him so long this season to find competitiveness. I’m sure it affected his driving after that, it affected my driving a lot, I’m sure Believe it or not.
“So I can understand that and that’s why we gave him confidence and supported him all season.”
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