Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen
Ryan Smart
The Formula 1 driver whose crash indirectly led to Lewis Hamilton losing out on a Drivers' Championship is now living a much different life.
Williams driver Nicholas Latifi brought out the safety car in the closing stages of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after colliding with Mick Schumacher.
Hamilton was comfortably leading the race ahead of title rival Max Verstappen, with a win for the Mercedes driver being enough to win him his record-breaking eighth world title.
Barring a mechanical issue or car failure, the Brit would have crossed the line in first place given his gap at the time.
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In normal circumstances, even the deployment of a safety car would not have affected him, as Verstappen had pitted for fresh tyres and therefore had three lapped cars between himself and Hamilton.
However, race director Michael Masi allowed certain lapped cars to unlap themselves, leaving Verstappen directly behind Hamilton on the restart.
This procedure was described by the FIA as being a 'human error', with a report also finding that the race director then 'called the safety car back into the pit lane without having completed an additional lap as required by the Formula 1 sporting regulations', though that Masi acted 'in good faith'.
On older tyres, Hamilton was unable to defend his position and Verstappen overtook him on the final lap, thus winning the championship for himself.
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As for Latifi, the Canadian driver remained with Williams for 2022 but that would prove to be his final season in the sport.
It was announced that he would be leaving the team at the end of the season, and was replaced by Logan Sargeant.
The Canadian was not involved in racing at all during 2023, deciding to take a year out of the sport before deciding what to do next.
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And in July 2023, Latifi declared that he had ended his career in motorsport to pursue a business career.
The former Williams driver signed up to complete an MBA degree at the London Business School.
He told Poets and Quants in September 2023: "At London Business School, I will be collaborating with people with business experiences across the globe, allowing me to understand how business principles are applied in different business and geographical contexts.
"I expect this to mould me into a business leader who understands the importance of nuancing their business acumen to the customs and norms of the environment they are in.
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"My post-MBA plans are not 100% set in stone. Of course, I have ideas and potential options for what I can do, such as joining my family business or getting involved in the business side of motorsports."
The application process took five months before Latifi found out he had been accepted onto the course, and told fans on Twitter about what his future involvement in racing might look like.
"I knew there would always be a life post-racing at some point, and I decided that now might be a good time to prepare for that," he said.
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"This is not necessarily a goodbye to the racing world forever. Racing has been my life since the age of 13 and is still something I am extremely passionate about. I haven't missed watching an F1 race yet this season!
"However, I felt like this year was the right time to explore and pursue other avenues in my life."