Google News
Nicholas Latifi, the Canadian-Iranian racer competing in F1 for Williams Racing under a Canadian flag, had hired body guards to protect him and his girlfriend following death threats after the last season’s title decider event in Abu Dhabi. In factuality, in the final stage of December Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the title decider of F1 2021, Nicholas Latifi crashed at some point, which in effect had brought out the safety car that awkwardly blocked Mercedes’ Hamilton during restart and allowed Red Bull’s Verstappen to overtake the Briton while costing the 37-year-old what could have been his eighth championship title. After the event, Mercedes’ Hamilton remained silent over two months as FIA launched a probe on race director Masi’s role in the incident, while Latifi turned to social medias to unfurl the extent of abuse that he received from the fans.
Williams’ Latifi had to hire bodyguards after Abu Dhabi crash
The 26-year-old Canadian racer also had added that he had to take the threats seriously due to their grievous natures and had to deploy serious security measures in order to secure him and his loved ones over the weeks after the event.
Besides, Latifi said on Tuesday, “I think it sounds silly to some people but at the end of the day you don't know how serious people are. All it could take is one drunk fan at an airport or bumping into someone who's having a bad day and is intoxicated or under the influence of something and has these really extreme opinions.
All it takes is that one in a million person. I was back in London after the race and I did have some security with me when I was doing certain things. I went to the Winter Wonderland with my girlfriend because we didn't manage to fit that in before the last block of races and I had some security detail with me on that.
Again, it sounds funny, sounds silly, but we really did take the threats seriously because you don't really know what could happen. Just an unfortunate part of the world we live in. ”
