Nicholas Latifi has said goodbye to motorsport for the foreseeable future after speaking about where his F1 career is headed after losing his seat at the end of the 2022 season.
Former Williams F1 driver Nicholas Latifi finally opened up and revealed a sudden short-term career move after losing his seat. After having decided to put his racing career on hold, Latifi has disclosed that he has enrolled in a London MBA program.
The 28-year-old Canadian drove a Williams F1 car for 61 races, but only accumulated nine championship points. His best result was seventh in the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix. After the 2022 season came to an end he left the team and American F2 prodigy Logan Sargeant took his place.
However Sargeant’s fortunes in Formula 1 have not been much better than Latifi’s, as the rookie has yet to score a championship point, with teammate Alexander Albon leading Williams championship campaign.
Since leaving Formula One, Latifi has kept a quiet profile. He last updated his Twitter account in December, when he reflected on his time at Williams. He has since come back to social media to discuss his short-term goals as he returns to school to pursue an MBA at London Business School.
He issued an update on Tuesday, stating that he had been admitted to the esteemed London Business School and would start the programme within a month.
“I decided very early on in the year that I wouldn’t have any racing plans for 2023,” he wrote on his social media accounts. “It definitely felt very strange not having the same routine I’d been in for over half my life.
“Knowing that I wouldn’t be behind the wheel of a race car this year, I had obviously begun to think of what could be next for me, whether that involved racing or something completely different.
“Growing up I always had a keen interest in the world of business, and I always said it was something I would have studied at university had I not gone the racing route.
“An MBA was always something that I had contemplated doing post-racing life, even if that had been into my late 30s and early 40s.
“I began devoting my time to researching business schools and seeing which ones would be a good ft, preparing an application for them, and studying for the GMAT – a test required by most business schools to go along with your application.
“This was not an easy process and took many months! Anyone who has experienced the journey of applying to a business school knows how difficult it can be.”
After completing his London MBA, Latifi, who has been based in London for some time stated that he still sees a future in racing.
“This decision may seem surprising to a lot of people,” he continued. “Transitioning to a different racing category might have seemed the most obvious move.
“However, 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 myself for that.
“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.”
