It was reported in Canada this week that the Williams team had already fired Nicholas Latifi, but those reports turned out to be a canard
Norris McDonald, the only journalist ever inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame, caused a stir on Thursday with a tweet he was forced to retract shortly after.
“Toronto’s Nick Latifi fired by WilliamsF1,” McDonald posted. “Two things: Williams better have a pile of money because this is going to be a big fat lawsuit. And his successor Nyck de Vries has to do better than him in that shit car first, which I have my doubts about. “
Three hours later he had to retract: “Correction. Nick Latifi will continue as a Williams driver for the foreseeable future. My information was not correct. No matter how old you are, you always learn this important lesson: be first, but above all, be sure it’s true! My apologies to Nick Latifi. “
Journalist had to retract tweet
Where the journalist got his information is unclear. However, Nyck de Vries has been traded as a candidate for a Williams cockpit before Alexander Albon was signed for the 2022 season
Toronto’s Nick Latifi fired by Williams F1. Two things: Williams better have a lot of money because there will be one hell of a lawsuit and his replacement, Nyck DeVries, had better do better in that pig of a car, which is doubtful.
– Norris McDonald (@NorrisMcDonald2) May 12, 2022
There are also other rumours circulating on the internet, namely that Latifi could be replaced by Alpine junior Oscar Piastri. Piastri is considered the hottest talent outside of F1, but at Alpine the regular team is filled with Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon. Lending him to Williams seems logical from the outside looking in.
Latifi’s contract expires at the end of 2022 anyway. Capito would be ill-advised to kick him out prematurely. Because Latifi Sr. is one of the team’s financial backers, and currently even the best driver in the world would probably not achieve significantly better results. Especially as Capito attaches great importance to his reputation of sticking to contracts and always being reliable.
Capito makes clear: change of driver not an issue
“Nicky needs a bit more time to get used to the car with the new regulations. But he has our full support there,” says Capito. “For us, there is no question at the moment of changing anything in our driver pairing during the season.” That wouldn’t make any sense as long as we can see an improvement in Latifi.
In addition, integrating a new driver into a team in the middle of the season “is always difficult”, Capito knows and adds: “It also weakens the team. Although Oscar is of course a very promising talent and deserves a seat in Formula 1. And I’m also sure he’ll get a seat next year.”
Whether that will be with Alpine, Williams or another team remains to be seen. For now, it remains testing for the 21-year-old Webber protégé. This week he spent two days at the wheel of an Alpine A521 from the 2021 season in Doha, and he will soon also be driving in a private test in Spielberg.
