Nicholas Latifi comes out of silence after being targeted on social networks

After remaining silent for over a week, Nicholas latifi published a long message on social networks. The Canadian looks back on the events during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. As a reminder, his accident on the 50th lap caused a yellow flag and a safety car which completely changed the end of the race. Well ahead with a 12 second lead before this incident, Lewis Hamilton equipped with hard tires was well on his way to winning an eighth world title. This reversal of situation allowed Max Verstappen to return to the pits to put on soft tires, and to overtake the Briton during the race restart which took place on the last lap. 

On his Twitter account, Nicholas Latifi sends a long letter in which he discusses this accident. The Canadian admits that he received a lot of messages of support but also a lot of hatred. “There was a lot of talk about the situation that arose after my withdrawal to Abu Dhabi. I received thousands of messages on my social media accounts – publicly and via DMs. Most were supportive, but there was also a lot of hatred and abuse.".

After his retirement, the Toronto native apologized to his team. He also admits that he already knew that his accident would be commented on and that it would not go unnoticed.“Reflecting on what happened during the race, there was really only one group of people I needed to apologize to for dropping out: my team. I did it right after. Everything that followed was beyond my control.”

“The hatred, abuse and threats that followed on social media didn't really surprise me, because it's the harsh reality of the world we live in right now. I'm no stranger to being talked about negatively online. I think every athlete who competes on the world stage knows that they are under extreme scrutiny and sometimes that comes with the territory.”

“Going back to the race weekend, as soon as the checkered flag fell, I knew how things were going to go on social media. The fact that I felt it would be best to delete Instagram and Twitter from my phone for a few days speaks volumes about the cruelty of the online world ».

A message from me after the events of Abu Dhabi https://t.co/uYj7Ct6ANQ pic.twitter.com/eThFec8nAi

- Nicholas Latifi (@NicholasLatifi) December 21, 2021