Latifi released a statement nine days after the last race of the 2021 season denouncing the abuse he had received on social media “in the hope that this might open another conversation about online bullying and the drastic consequences.” that it can have on people”.
The Canadian driver was involved in the 2021 title battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen as he caused an accident with six laps to go in the race at the Yas Marina circuit . That crash caused the safety car to come out and the final drama already known to all.
After driving Williams’ 2022 car at the Silverstone shakedown, Latifi explained that his statement was “an important opportunity to use his platform to spread the important message of being a good person”.
When asked how concerned he and his team were about the death threats, and whether he had taken steps to protect himself with security personnel, he replied: “Yes, to be honest, it was something we considered “.
“Some people think it’s silly, but at the end of the day you don’t know how serious people can be. It only takes a drunk fan in an airport, or running into someone having a bad day, intoxicated or low. influenced by something, and having such extreme views,” Latifi said.
“I might be one person in a million. So, after a few days, I went back to London after the race, and I took some security with me for certain activities.”
“I went to Winter Wonderland with my girlfriend – because we couldn’t do it before the last grands prix – and I had several security people with me.”
“It sounds funny or silly, but we take threats seriously because you really don’t know what can happen. It’s an unfortunate part of the world we live in,” Williams explained.
Latifi also revealed that Hamilton sent him “a message a few days after [Abu Dhabi]”. Although he did not go into detail about the exchange of words, he indicated that he joined the “messages of support [he received] from other members of the Mercedes team”.
He added: “Obviously the support received on social media, from many drivers and teams from different disciplines, was very nice. Everyone agrees with the sentiment and the message.”
“This has not been the only case of a situation like this with abuse on the internet. Even outside of motorsport, the most recent thing was at the European Football Championship, with the three English players [ Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka ] who The penalties failed and all the consequences that followed”.
“It’s a problem that, unfortunately, we have in the world with social networks. These accounts on the network do a lot of good, they give people a lot of access to things that they wouldn’t normally be able to commit to, but at the same time they can these negative things. It would be nice to find more ways to improve on that aspect.”
