Will Nicholas Latifi Have a Future in Formula 1?

Seven must be Nicholas Latifi’s lucky number. The 27 years-old racing driver scored seven points in Formula 1 and finished his best race in seventh place. But behold your praise just yet. Because this is the best Latifi could perform in a total of 55 races – not a successful career in F1. As he failed to score a single point in 2022, it is no surprise to me that Williams Racing announced to let Latifi go at the end of the year.

After two seasons in George Russell’s shadow, Latifi added another year of trying to catch up with ex-Red Bull racer Alex Albon to his Formula 1 history. Williams team principal Jost Capito describes the Canadian as “a great team player who has a great attitude towards his colleagues and work and is well-liked and respected throughout the business”. Why did he not comment on Latifi’s performance for Williams, I wonder? Probably because the Canadian only ever attracted attention with the many cars he crashed.

It is still to be announced who will join Albon in William’s 2023 driver line-up, but Nyck de Vries is a strong candidate for the seat. The Formula E driver recently scored points in his F1 debut at the Italian Grand Prix and out-performed Latifi, who finished in 15th position.

With Williams looking ahead to next season, what will happen to the Latifi next year? Will he be able to stay in Formula 1?

There are only four of the twenty seats still open for 2023, but more than enough capable contenders for the leftover spots.

My guess is that rookie Guanyu Zhou will return to Alfa Romeo to compete in 2023. Not only because he brings the team a lot of funding (cash is king), but he had a solid first year alongside his teammate Valtteri Bottas.

Alpine and Haas also still have vacant seats for next season. I don’t believe that Latifi is in the race for one of these two spots, though. Other racing drivers may have not performed at the top of their game this season, but Latifi stuck to the bottom of the grid the whole time. I would rather keep Daniel Ricciardo and Mick Schumacher in Formula 1 beyond 2022.

This would leave Nicholas Latifi without a seat in Formula 1 for the upcoming season. After finishing ninth in Formula 2 just four years ago, maybe he was simply not ready to keep up with the best racing drivers in the world. Maybe his impressive F2 season in 2019 was just a fluke. If he wants to race in the future he should be looking for a seat in another series.