Nicholas Daniel Latifi is an Iranian-Canadian racing driver competing for Williams in Formula One. He is driving under the Canadian flag and made his debut into the highest international auto racing class during the Austrian Grand Prix in 2020. This happened after finishing as a runner-up during the 2019 Formula 2.
Latifi began his racing career in 2009 as a race kart driver. In 2010, he took the runner-up place in the Canadian National Karting Championship Rotax Junior class division. He continued his karting career until 2015 while at the same time competing in Formula 3 and Formula Renault 3.5 races. In 2014, he ranked 5th while driving for Prema Powerteam in the Macau Grand Prix series. From 2014 to 2016, he also competed under the GP2 series before it was re-branded to Formula 2 Championship in 2017.
From 2017 to 2019, Latifi was driving for DAMS or the Driot Associes Motorsport under Formula 2 Championship. It was in 2019 when he earned the second-place position after finishing 22 races, 4 wins, and 3 fastest laps. This was also the time when finished 8 podiums and scored a total of 214 points.
Latifi first drove a Formula One car when he became a test driver for Renault in 2016. By 2018, he became a test and reserve driver for Force India and 2019 for Williams. It was only in the 2020 season when Latifi officially became a racing driver for Williams. He made his Formula One racing debut during the Austrian Grand Prix after the Australian Grand Prix was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At present, he has a total of 26 race entries under Formula One.
The young and new Formula One driver is the son of an Iranian-Canadian businessman who has a $270 million investment with the McLaren Group and the owner of the Nidala company. His mother on the other hand is part of the family that owns Saputo, Inc., a large dairy company.
Formula One Career Highlights
- 0 wins
- 0 podiums
- 0 pole positions
- 9 career points
- 0 fastest laps
