135 replies to this topic

[ensign14]

I take a different perspective.  He's an Alguersuari.  Never committed to racing but went into it because Daddy bought him a career.  Now he isn't at the sharp end any more, he doesn't want to Will Stevens his way in second-level sportscars for the sheer joy of it.  The level of his imagination and fantasy being that, with no financial worries and the entire sweep of history from which to choose, he's studying Homer quantum physics archaeology T. Rex exobiology wombats Dostoyevsky Angkor aurorae business.

[Pingu Pi]

For me Latifi was a classic case of embodying the roles we as fans assign every season of who's the... best / smartest / quickest / most crashiest* / worst etc.

 

The reality is he was far quicker than the 1% of racers in the world and embraced his opportunity. F1 is the top of open wheel racing, if you don't provide competitive value then (imo) you shouldn't be here. The problem often lies with the way in which we assign the roles above and then every rhetoric is built around that with compounding 'passion' shall we call it. 

 

Latifi is a gentleman, articulate, fast racing driver who just didn't have that extra 0.5% that means he could consistently compete with the best. No shame, he took a seat 1 season longer than he should have (imo) buit certainly not the worst or outright unworthy choice. For what it's worth I hold Stroll (and some others at this point) in almost the same regard.... quick but there's better drivers out there who we'd all value seeing in the car more than him. 

Godspeed Nicholas and as someone said above, would be nice to see him on the commentary teams feeding back into the sport from a position of being on the inside. 

[onewingedangel]

I take a different perspective. He's an Alguersuari. Never committed to racing but went into it because Daddy bought him a career. Now he isn't at the sharp end any more, he doesn't want to Will Stevens his way in second-level sportscars for the sheer joy of it. The level of his imagination and fantasy being that, with no financial worries and the entire sweep of history from which to choose, he's studying Homer quantum physics archaeology T. Rex exobiology wombats Dostoyevsky Angkor aurorae business.

I'd imagine there is an expectation for him to get at least a grounding in business considering his inheritance.

[messy]

Latifi wasn’t bad at all. He won F2 feature races, he raced strongly and pretty much matched George Russell’s race pace for a good chunk of their time as team-mates. His issue was one-lap pace but that’s not much to be ashamed of alongside a driver who’s now matching Lewis. Every time there was some kind of early incident that bumped him up the order from a lowly grid slot (thinking Hungary in 2021 as prime example but not the only example) he more than held his own up at the sharp(er) end. I think he probably had equal value to someone like Lance Stroll at least in the first two seasons of his F1 career.

I always wonder how much his influence on the 2021 title battle affected him. It was widely reported that he got abuse and death threats after that and in 2022 he just wasn’t as good - with all due respect to Alex Albon he’s not as quick as George Russell and yet Latifi was even further off his pace in addition to being much more erratic and getting involved in more incidents.

Good luck to him anyway, nice bloke and underestimated talent.

[solochamp07]

I think drop off last year was more due to the new style cars and slowness to adapt to them, just as he was finally getting to grips with the outgoing one. That said, I’m sure the fallout from AD21 could have been a contributing factor too. He is a nice lad, I rooted for him but too often found myself facepalming at his exploits. I wish him well in whatever he chooses to do.

Edit: *at his on-track exploits.

Edited by solochamp07, 19 July 2023 - 16:46.

[messy]

I thought so too at the time bit the fact he’s now elected to quit racing altogether makes me wonder.

That said, business was always likely to be a big thing in his future given his background and future inheritance etc.

[ARTGP]

I thought so too at the time bit the fact he’s now elected to quit racing altogether makes me wonder.

 

I know it's his choice, but I find it extremely lame. 

Edited by ARTGP, 19 July 2023 - 17:16.

[Risil]

Perhaps it was the deal he made to get the family cash. 

[ARTGP]

 That said, I’m sure the fallout from AD21 could have been a contributing factor too. 

 

He's going to business school in London.

Edited by ARTGP, 19 July 2023 - 17:17.

[Cliff]

I guess It's what his dad wants for him in order to get involved with the family business because, unless you want to work for someone else's company, a degree is pretty much useless if you want to be an entrepreneur.

 

Anyway, good on him finding purpose beyond racing.

[Anderis]

The reality is he was far quicker than the 1% of racers in the world

To spend so many years on a high level of motorsport and only be quicker than 1 out of every 100 racers in the world is not such a great achievement.

[FNG]

As some people have already noted, Lattifi seems to be a pretty solid level head guy. The one thing I liked about him is that he seemed to have a mindset of " I know how I got here and I'm under no illusions at how lucky I am" as opposed to Stroll who I find, dunno, a bit arrogant. Maybe not the right word, not really humble enough knowing full well how he got to the sport. Sure Stroll is more talented than Latifi but not by a huge amount. 

[Pingu Pi]

To spend so many years on a high level of motorsport and only be quicker than 1 out of every 100 racers in the world is not such a great achievement.

 

 Bloody hell, hadn't realised I'd completely garbled that phrasing... "Something something top 1%" 

Edited by Pingu Pi, 19 July 2023 - 20:27.

[Jellyfishcake]

It'd be nice to be able to drop one career after investing millions and millions to go do something else, guess that's the advantage of being insanely rich.

 

He did seem level headed, not arrogant at all, but yeah you wonder like a few other drivers with the backers being their dads how much of a goal being a racing driver actually was, (and I mean racing driver, not just F1 driver) 

[Sterzo]

Perhaps it was the deal he made to get the family cash. 

This would make sense. We'll sponsor you to F1 level, but if you don't make it and earn a paid drive eventually, you need to get a job.

[ClubmanGT]

This would make sense. We'll sponsor you to F1 level, but if you don't make it and earn a paid drive eventually, you need to get a job.

 

More likely a basic requirement to take over any family business interests. 

 

You can't even get a foot in the door with some major US organisations without an MBA, even if you have a specialist qualification in something business-adjacent like finance.

[PlatenGlass]

I take a different perspective. He's an Alguersuari. Never committed to racing but went into it because Daddy bought him a career. Now he isn't at the sharp end any more, he doesn't want to Will Stevens his way in second-level sportscars for the sheer joy of it. The level of his imagination and fantasy being that, with no financial worries and the entire sweep of history from which to choose, he's studying Homer quantum physics archaeology T. Rex exobiology wombats Dostoyevsky Angkor aurorae business.

I don't always agree with your misanthropic take on things, but I do agree with this. I mean, business. FFS.

[MikeTekRacing]

He had his fun career, probably the best long term return is to focus on family business - and he wants to properly prepare for that. He is forfeiting his motorsport career because it makes financial sense.
To those that say he wasn’t committed- you must be joking. It’s years of HARD work and he was decent. Way better than most people that have average motorsport careers.

Of course money helped - but money alone don’t get you that close to Russel on (rather few) times.

[chdphd]

[goldenboy]

I take a different perspective.  He's an Alguersuari.  Never committed to racing but went into it because Daddy bought him a career.  Now he isn't at the sharp end any more, he doesn't want to Will Stevens his way in second-level sportscars for the sheer joy of it.  The level of his imagination and fantasy being that, with no financial worries and the entire sweep of history from which to choose, he's studying Homer quantum physics archaeology T. Rex exobiology wombats Dostoyevsky Angkor aurorae business.

You seem jealous actually.

 

He was dealt a good hand but never seemed bratty or shoved it in anyone's face. And I'm not sure why studying business is seen as a weird choice. It would be weird if he studied archeology when he has his family business to take over. 

 

I really don't think I remember a moment where he came across as a smug, smarmy rich kid. 

Edited by goldenboy, 23 July 2023 - 11:10.

[YamahaV10]

Latifi really started struggling at the wrong time. As soon as Mazepin was gone , he fell off a cliff. And the Mazepin energy went directly to him.

Was there anyone who noticeably struggled with the new cars more than him ?

[thegamer23]

Good lad, very decent driver.
Think he could have turned into a very good WEC driver.

[ensign14]

You seem jealous actually.

 

I'm not, I have a decent job which I earned, while his name will forever be synonymous with limited talent and nepotism.  It's not a swap I would take.

[Nemo1965]

I'm not, I have a decent job which I earned, while his name will forever be synonymous with limited talent and nepotism. It's not a swap I would take.

https://getyarn.io/y...7#HqQbBg8_.copy

[Sterzo]

I'm not, I have a decent job which I earned, while his name will forever be synonymous with limited talent and nepotism.  It's not a swap I would take.

You and I found decent jobs in disciplines which many people do not respect. This is a motor racing forum, where we admire people who race. Nearly all of whom were funded by their fathers through at least part of their careers. Thank goodness they did - we've had a sport to watch as a result.

[ensign14]

But taking up 5% of the available F1 seats when he was a) patently not good enough and b) barely committed to a career?  Not on.

[Lassel]

Bit of a weird take, after 20+ years of spending every day focused on F1, getting there and staying there several years, he’s not the first to decide that there is more to life than fighting the inevitable demise down the racing ladder.

[MikeTekRacing]

But taking up 5% of the available F1 seats when he was a) patently not good enough and b) barely committed to a career?  Not on.

how do you know his level of commitment and how much work he did put in? How do you know all that based on the fact he is not interested in doing something else outside of F1?

being good enough or not is relative. There have been far worse drivers throughout the history of F1 and he was, at times, rather close to George in races. 

If that's not enough for a few years in the worst car around - what is?

[chdphd]

In a similar vein to Latifi eschewing motorsport, Nyck de Vries is off to Harvard to study Negotiation and Leadership.

 

https://wtf1.com/pos...at-we-expected/

[Pieter]

From the article. “I’ve never studied before in my life, in fact, I didn’t even finish high school.“

 

Not familiar the US system. Do they admit everyone at Harvard?

[MikeTekRacing]

All universities have lots of courses with lots for lots of audiences. you can sign up, learn something in a specific area of interest.

Being admitted at Harvard is a completely different topic, getting a degree etc

[ensign14]

how do you know his level of commitment and how much work he did put in? How do you know all that based on the fact he is not interested in doing something else outside of F1?

Doesn't the evidence suggest he was interested in F1 and F1 only rather than motor sport as a whole?  And he didn't earn his F1 spot, it was bought for him.  Evidently he can't earn a spot anywhere else...

[TennisUK]

To be fair to the guy he wasn’t a total chump, you don’t win f2 races if you are hopeless. He was never going to win anything but there have been less talented drivers with less wealthy parents than his, for sure.

And he came across as intelligent and at the end genuinely quite humble. Not often you can see that about anyone in the paddock.

[chdphd]

All universities have lots of courses with lots for lots of audiences. you can sign up, learn something in a specific area of interest.

Being admitted at Harvard is a completely different topic, getting a degree etc

Yeah, we call them On Demand courses and you buy them.

[chdphd]

Example: £2,460 for a 15-week course.

 

https://on.abdn.ac.u...tiation-skills/

 

 

This course has no formal entry requirements. You decide if it’s suitable for you.

[kumo7]

Example: £2,460 for a 15-week course.

 

https://on.abdn.ac.u...tiation-skills/

 

Interesting.

 

But then with Australian Lawyer the pupils will learn how to negotiate Australian fashion, but not in British manner which t counts for Formula-1, isn't ?