On the 23rd of September 2022, the F1 community seemed to celebrate the loss of Nicholas Latifi from the grid in 2023. The Canadian joined Williams in the 2020 season, partnering with George Russell, in an uncompetitive Williams car that would fail to score a point the entire season. His second season was where Latifi peaked, scoring back-to-back points at the Hungarian and Belgian GP.
However the moment that people will remember Nicholas for (unfortunately) will be the events that unfolded in Abu Dhabi. Whilst fighting the Haas of Mick Schumacher, Nicholas was forced off the track and the battle continued into latter corners. Coming into the off-camber turn 14 in the dirty air of the Haas, the car became unsettled and ended up hitting the barriers on the outside of the track.
At the same time that the chaos in Abu Dhabi was happening, I was three months into my time as Community Manager at Williams. This opportunity was something I could only dream of and after leaving recently, I can say that it was as unique as I wanted it to be. However that season finale will overshadow the experience. My job was to monitor the comments across all social platforms. Likelihood is that if you had interaction with the Williams account in the past year, it was me(something that I will never forget).
The unexpected.
The first thing that hit me a few moments after the incident, was the sheer volume of responses we were getting across all the social platforms I monitored. We had had a good day so far, with the activation surrounding the team and the imminent release of the Kingsman film going down well. But the tone and sentiment of almost every reply had changed from just hours before. We were looking to end the season on a high from a social point, with Abu Dhabi being the last race George Russell would compete in for the team.
Looking into the replies there were three main schools of responses; and I must stress that this is a small percentage of each. The most minor sector was people who potentially had a financial stake, such as a bet on the outcome of the race. Who were reacting to their loss of income, which only a few laps before seemed very secure. The second, which was bigger than some people realise was Max fans “thanking” Nicholas for what happened. And then you had the most noticeable group (for me anyway) the section of TeamLH, who at the time were placing the blame solely on Nicholas for the incident.
People were also flocking to Nicholas’ previous post, his goodbye to a teammate at the time George Russell, to give him abuse there too, with him deleting the post shortly after the event due to the hate.
I waded through the hate for weeks after the event, across every channel, blocking and banning different accounts for attacking and abusing Nicholas. The attacks ranged from sly comments about the race to full-blown attacks against him, his heritage, and members of his family.
To this day, people refute the claim he received any death threats, which, honestly, infuriates me more than anything, after seeing these comments first-hand, to see people laughing, making jokes about it, and even in some cases trying to justify that hate, it just left me exasperated and angry.
Since then, Nicky has been seen as the walking joke of F1, unreasonably in my opinion. For someone who started karting at the age of 13, and had to race across numerous series and numerous car models to gain the experience he needed to get where he wanted to be, I think he should be able to leave the sport with his head held high.
The 2022 season
Abu Dhabi seemed to light a fuse from what I saw with our social media, of whenever something happened between drivers on track, or something was said on broadcast or in the media by a team principal, people would go to the team social media and attack them, or attack them on their main timeline.
The example I always remember of this was when Jost made a comment about the possible retirement of Lewis Hamilton, giving the opportunity for a younger driver to enter the sport. Whilst researching after the event, I saw a tweet, from an account with over 3,000 followers, which said “Like why am I a bad person for wanting someone to die” following it up with a second tweet, stating “Yes I’m talking about Jost Capito”.
This isn’t just a problem that was isolated to Williams however, this is a much more overarching issue throughout the sport, which is further complicated by the unique nature of Formula one. There are few other sports, outside of motorsport, where you have people who support either a driver or a team. A prime example of this is Lewis Hamilton fans, who many clearly stated that they didn’t want to celebrate Geroge Russell’s debut race win, this past weekend at Interlagos. However, the sport saw a comparative harmony prior to 2021, which is to be expected.
The toxicity of the year that has been 2022 can be summed up by the volume of team statements, reacting to abuse that has been seen, with another being added by Alpine in the wake of the incident between Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso during Saturday’s sprint race in Brazil.
Multiple teams have had to issue statements regarding the conduct of the people who are interacting with their drivers and staff of the team, which is a place that the sport should never have to get to. As someone who had a part to play in the distribution of Nicholas’s statement post-Abu Dhabi, it’s such a tough thing to do. Especially when, and this seems to be the case with the statements, by and large, they end up just inciting more hate onto the individuals involved.
The power of social media
This brings up the question, do these F1 Twitter accounts and influencers, both big and small realise the power and audience that they have, before posting what they do? In my mind, they don’t, in my mind, they are more focussed on growing their own channels with controversy, something that talking about Abu Dhabi is sure to give them.
Of course, I am only talking about a small minority of the F1 community, in my mind, it is clear who. In my time at Williams, I interacted with some amazing people, who were dedicated to drivers across our team, not just George, Alex and Nicholas. Massive support went the way of Logan Sargeant, Jack Aitken and Jamie Chadwick, drivers in smaller series, or hadn’t yet received the praise that they were so due, not to mention the waves of fan mail.
Mail sent by older fans, reminiscing about the pioneer Frank Williams and days of glory, to fans who have just got into the sport recently, via Drive to Survive or the antics of the “Twitch Quartet” over lockdown in 2020. Williams had dedicated, regional, support pages on social, a database and a supporters page. All are positive and supportive of the team, drivers and staff, which is all that can be asked for. They showed so much support after Abu Dhabi, despite the flurry of negativity.
This is what social media and not just F1, but sport in general, should be about, and that is what has helped me post my time in F1, I met, interacted with and work with some of the most amazing people with amazing stories and support. I will always remember Abu Dhabi, but not for the reasons people usually do, and I don’t think that will change anytime soon.