How Williams’ Nicholas Latifi is Fighting the Pay Driver Stigma
“We’re looking for a miracle,” said Christian Horner, team principal of Red Bull Racing, one balmy December night in Abu Dhabi. “All we can do is pray to the racing gods and hope for the best.”
The sun had long since set on the glittering capital, now turned into a Mecca of speed. Floodlights chased away the night to light up the circuit, as Formula 1 cars shrieked by at speeds topping 340 mph. The year-long battle of the gladiators had come to a head in the final laps of the race, as seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton faced off against the young maverick, Max Verstappen. It was a final draw for glory— and Verstappen was losing.
Suddenly, the cameras cut away to the image of an ocean-blue car seated perpendicular on the track, nose to the wall. The race came to a screeching halt; red flags were waved and a safety car was sent out to slow the cars so stewards could clear the wreckage. The crash would set off a domino effect ending in Verstappen controversially winning the title.
But for Williams driver Nicholas Latifi, who now evicted himself from the wreckage, it was likely the most amount of influence he would ever have on a championship. In the following days, the maelstrom of online hate that ensued didn’t just come from angry Hamilton fans, but focused on one of the most damning titles a racer can have: pay driver.
To say that Formula 1 is a sport for the rich is an understatement. With a starting price of one hundred million pounds a year, back-marker teams like Williams are always looking for an extra injection of cash. Enter the pay driver: sons of wealthy families who come with signing bonuses upwards of eight digits. For Toronto native Nicholas Latifi, son of Iranian-Canadian businessman Michael Latifi, that bonus came in the form of a $30-million-dollar investment into Williams racing. The money is a double-edged sword. While it is a one-way ticket into one of the most exclusive sports in the world, it can be tough to shake off the pay-to-play stigma.
For Latifi, it’s haunted his career from the start.
There’s an wave of defensiveness when the topic is brought up. “It’s not an ‘I’m going to put this money in and buy my son a race seat.’ It’s an investment. It doesn’t really affect my job. There’s no link between me as a driver and those investments,” Latifi says. “I want to build my racing career based on what I do on the track.”
Only twenty drivers make it to a Formula 1 track in a single season. Compared to the rigorous recruiting process of professional sports teams, entering F1 can be an impossible dream. Drivers often start their go-karting careers at tender ages, spending weekends driving in the rain instead of watching morning cartoons. Max Verstappen started his career at the age of four and a half. Latifi began at thirteen.
“A lot of those feelings didn’t come as naturally to me,” Latifi says. “The way my driving coach taught me first was ‘on paper’ – literally on a whiteboard, drawing, and just basically teaching me to teach myself while I’m driving. It was quite an unconventional route into motorsport. I didn’t come from a motor racing family or a motor racing background.”
On any given weekend, Latifi can be seen behind the wheel of a blue Williams. Affectionately called Nicky by the team, he sports the driver number 6— a homage to his native Toronto. Latifi’s straightforward, can-do attitude has made him a mainstay of the struggling Williams team.
Despite driving what many consider to be a slow car, Latifi is on an upward development curve and built himself a respectable career through hard work and deep self-analysis. For a team like Williams which is trying to pull itself out of a hole, having someone with potential and a motivating attitude can help things. A healthy $30 million dollar investment doesn’t hurt either.
But in the hyper-competitive world of F1, the ultimate goal is the podium. Now, after two seasons of living in his teammate’s shadow, and with Williams poised to make a comeback, the goal is to show that Latifi isn’t just a pay driver— that he has what it takes to race against the best drivers in the world. Clearly, Williams thinks he’s worth it: Latifi has lasted three seasons with a team that can be capricious with their pay drivers. The last two only lasted one season.
“It is a dream come true for me, something that I have been working towards for a huge part of my life… pretty much half,” Latifi remarks. “I want to have a long career in there and I obviously have high goals for that— I don’t just want to be a grid filler.”
Daniela Ricchezza 