Williams F1 Team Principal Blames Lewis Hamilton’s Army of Fans as ‘GOATIFI’ Era Approaches Its End

Nicholas Latifi’s stint at Williams has been far from ideal. Latifi has been a full-time driver for Williams for 3 years now. Over these three seasons, the Canadian has only managed to bag 9 points. Team principal Jost Capito feels that 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton might have to do with Nicholas’ form not picking up.

In his earlier season with Williams, George Russell outclassed Latifi before the Brit moved on to Mercedes. Since then he is partnering with Alexander Albon. However, the change of teammate did not do him any favor. He hasn’t shown much improvement and the points show that.

Is Lewis Hamilton to be blamed for Nicholas Latifi being out of form?

We are almost towards the end of the 2022 season. But the controversy of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix refuses to die. The saga of Lewis Hamilton missing out on his record-breaking 8th world title started with Nicholas Latifi’s crash. What ensued after can be called nothing short of unjust to Latifi.

After the restart of the race for 1 lap, Max Verstappen overtook Hamilton and snatched the title from the Mercedes driver. Ever since then, Latifi has endured brutal criticism from all around. Jost Capito believes Nicholas never recovered from that and blames it for his downfall. He said, “I believe Nicky’s performance has been impacted by last year’s Abu Dhabi outcome and circumstances after that.”

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Talking about Latifi’s performance this year, Capito told, “I think his performance was this year not on the level he expected of his performance himself. And we didn’t expect his performance to be like this.” 

He continued, “So, and then after three years, I think it’s right for the team and the driver to find different opportunities for both.”

Williams yet to decide on who to field alongside Alex Albon in 2023

Nyck de Vries raced in a one-off event at the Italian GP this year after Alex Albon missed out on the race owing to appendicitis surgery. The Dutch driver impressed one and all after he bagged 2 points in his first-ever Formula 1 race, finishing 9th. Nicholas Latifi finished P15 in that fixture and had scored no points in the season until then.

Impressed with his performance, Williams wanted him to replace Latifi. However, that plan failed after AlphaTauri signed him to replace Pierre Gasly who will race for Alpine. Now, Williams is sizing up its options with Nico Hulkenberg, Haas’ out-of-favor driver Mick Schumacher and American F2 driver Logan Sargeant.

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Williams is looking to bring their glory days back. While every other team looks to have their lineups set for next year, only Williams and Haas are undecided.