(Hazel Grove) Canadian driver Nicholas Latifi revealed on Tuesday that he was the target of death threats after his crash late in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that led to the controversial conclusion of the Formula 1 season.
Latifi, of the Williams team, lost control of his vehicle with five laps to go, forcing the safety car out. Max Verstappen took advantage of the situation to finally beat Lewis Hamilton on the last lap and snatch the title of world champion.
Latifi, who is 26, condemned people who criticized him on social media.
“What shocked me was the extreme tone of the comments of hatred, abuse and even death threats that I received,” he wrote in a lengthy statement.
Mercedes’ Hamilton was nearly 12 seconds ahead of leading Red Bull’s Verstappen when the Lafiti crash forced the yellow flags out.
Verstappen went through the pits to put new tires on his car. Hamilton stayed on track, betting he would run out of laps to restart the event. The clerk of the course first said the lagging cars could not get ahead of the safety car to make up for their delay, a decision which was eventually reversed and saw Verstappen end up directly behind Hamilton on the restart with a turn to do.
Verstappen then passed Hamilton to win a first world championship title. For his part, Hamilton was deprived of an eighth crown and remained tied with Michael Schumacher for first place in history with seven world championship titles.
Mercedes immediately filed protests, but eventually withdrew its appeal last week.
Latifi had already apologized for playing such a major role in the outcome of the December 12 race, but added on Tuesday that he would always drive with a competitive spirit all the way to the checkered flag, no matter what position in the race. which he finds himself.
“For those who don’t understand this or who don’t agree with it, that’s okay. You are entitled to your opinion. But using your opinion to stir up hatred, abuse and threats of violence, not only against me, but also my relatives, tells me that you are not true fans of our sport, ”wrote Latifi.