Back in 2021, Nicholas Latifi found himself trapped in a Timo Glock-like situation following the season-ending Formula One race at the Abu Dhabi GP. Lewis Hamilton was on course to lift his record eighth world championship title only for the Canadian to turn things around in a span of a few seconds.

Latifi shunted his Williams into the barriers, hardly a few laps away from the chequered flag, leading to a safety car period. Then arrived the unusual call from the race director, Michael Masi, which consequently led to Max Verstappen defeating the seven-time world champion despite the odds fairly stacked up against the Dutchman.

In the heat of the moment, a lot of viewers began to blame Latifi for Hamilton’s defeat to Verstappen. Well, eventually, the others caught up too, and at one point, the Williams driver fell victim to immense hate and death threats on social media.

Hence, Latifi was forced to take a sabbatical from social media and returned the following week with a huge statement, reasoning his absence. Subsequently, the entire F1 community, including Hamilton, joined together in support of Latifi.

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Latifi reveals message from Lewis Hamilton

Despite enduring his own title heartbreak, Hamilton took to social media to show his support for his fellow racing colleague, Latifi. However, turns out, the Briton even reached out to Latifi through private text.

“In terms of the support I got from it afterwards, Lewis did send me a message a few days after, I think just before I released the statement,” Latifi said according to Crash.net. “I won’t go into details into what he said. I got some support from other team members at Mercedes as well. 

“Obviously, the whole outcry of support on social media from multiple drivers, teams across so many different disciplines, was really nice to see and encouraging to see. Everyone agreed with the whole sentiment and message and this has not been the only incident or a situation like this of online abuse.”

Overall, the fans have come to their senses in the last couple of months and have acknowledged Latifi’s innocence in the Hamilton-Verstappen debacle. So, will the Canadian have a rather peaceful season ahead after a hate-filled end to 2021?

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