LONDON, 15 Feb. (PA Media / dpa / EP) –
Canadian driver Nicholas Latifi of Williams has revealed he had to take the drastic step of hiring bodyguards on a trip to London after he received threats on his life following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The American was mostly insulted on social networks after he suffered an accident in the last round of the season that caused the starting car to leave, something that was key for the Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull) to advance in the last lap to the Englishman Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and snatched the world title from him.
And Latifi, 26, said the situation became so dire that he had to go out in personal safety on a visit to London’s Hyde Park Winter Wonderland with his partner, model Sandra Dziwiszek.
“It sounds silly to some people, but at the end of the day, you don’t know how serious people are. All it takes is a drunk fan in an airport, or meeting someone who is having a bad day and is intoxicated under influenced by something and has really extreme opinions. You only need that one person in a million,” he said Tuesday during Williams’ presentation.
The Canadian made it clear that you have to take “threats seriously because you don’t know what could happen.” “This is just an unfortunate reality of the world we live in, there were death threats that went way overboard,” he admitted.
Latifi also confessed that he received a text message of support from Hamilton and members of the Mercedes team. “Lewis messaged me a few days after the race and just before he posted the statement on social media. I won’t go into what he said, but I did get messages of support from other team members at Mercedes and there were also protests of support from drivers and teams on social media, which was nice,” he remarked.