Nicholas Latifi

 ( Official Website ) 

After Latifi signed with Williams, the COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated the team's financial issues. The team parted ways with title sponsor ROKiT, claiming that the latter had failed to timely pay its sponsorship dues. Michael Latifi provided further support to the team by working with HSBC to refinance Williams' debts, which provided the team with an immediate £28m cash injection.

Latifi endured a rocky rookie season. His problems were compounded by the woeful Williams car, which failed to score a single point all year. He made his race debut at the (that year's having been cancelled). Despite a crash in the final practice session, which contributed to a last-placed qualifying, he finished in 11th, taking advantage of nine retirements. Overall, he struggled in qualifying and was knocked out in the first qualifying session in all but one race that year (the ), where he challenged for points but suffered a puncture and spun on lap 43. After a 15th-place finish at Silverstone, he commented that he made his "first legit overtake in Formula 1" when he passed Kimi Räikkönen.

Despite Williams' point-less season, Latifi came close to scoring points on several occasions. At the , Latifi recovered from last to 11th, after a well-timed pit stop immediately before a safety car and red flag vaulted him into ninth place at the re-start. Although he later fell back to 12th, he overtook Räikkönen to finish 11th and beat his teammate Russell. He picked up his first F1 retirement at the , following a multi-car accident at a restart. He finished 11th once again at the , aided by a late safety car. Latifi received an opportunity to compete with a new teammate when Russell was temporarily promoted to Mercedes for the , and duly outqualified substitute Jack Aitken; however, he was forced to retire in 13th place due to an oil leak. Latifi ended his debut season 21st in the Drivers' Championship, the lowest of all full-time drivers. Russell beat him 15-0 in qualifying, although Latifi beat him on track in two races and finished another race where Russell took himself out with a driver error.

Williams steadily improved during the season. Latifi narrowly missed out on Q2 for three races in a row, qualifying 16th at the , , and Styrian Grand Prix. In France, he was just two thousandths of a second away from Q2. He scored his first F1 points at the , where he put on a career-best performance. He qualified in 18th, but received a golden opportunity when Valtteri Bottas set off a chain reaction of crashes at Turn 1. He carefully avoided the carnage, allowing him to enter Turn 2 in sixth position. At the restart, most drivers pitted for slicks, and Latifi overtook another two drivers due to good execution from Williams' pit crew. He rose to third after a Mercedes strategy miscue forced Lewis Hamilton to pit. He hung on to third place for 18 laps and eventually finished eighth, just ahead of Russell. He was subsequently promoted to seventh after Sebastian Vettel's disqualification. It was Williams' first double-points finish since the 2018 Italian Grand Prix, and Latifi's seventh-place finish was the team's best single finish since the 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix. Latifi said that he was "super happy" with the result.

Latifi continued to benefit from Williams' improved form, primarily in qualifying. A 12th-place qualifying finish, two penalties, and a Sergio Pérez crash allowed him to start the rain-affected Belgian Grand Prix in ninth place. Since the race took place in a downpour and was run entirely under safety car conditions, Latifi scored points for the second consecutive race. He made Q2 again at the following race, the , but a shunt during his flying lap doomed him to a pit lane start so that Williams could fix his car. At the , Latifi finished 14th in the sprint race and nearly scored points for a third time before losing tenth place to Esteban Ocon at the safety car restart. He also qualified 14th at the Russian Grand Prix, but retired after colliding with the wall. Williams' form dropped off in the final third of the season, but Latifi outqualified Russell for the first time with a 16th-place grid placement at the . He also finished 12th in a crash-filled , and outqualified Russell for a second time at the season-ending .

Latifi played an unexpectedly significant role in the Abu Dhabi GP, which had one of the most controversial endings to a race in Formula One history. Entering the race, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen were tied for the championship lead. Hamilton led most of the race, but Latifi crashed on lap 53 of 58 while battling Mick Schumacher, triggering a safety car. Unwilling to end the race under safety car conditions, race director Michael Masi controversially ordered the five lapped drivers between Hamilton and Verstappen to unlap themselves, allowing Verstappen to close the gap to Hamilton and race for one final lap. Aided by brand-new tyres, Verstappen overtook Hamilton to win his first World Drivers' Championship. Following the race, Latifi apologized for the crash but nonetheless received threats and hate messages from fans on social media. Following the race, he explained on his website that while most of the messages he had received had been supportive, he had received "shocking" online abuse, including death threats. He added that online accounts had also harassed his family and that "it's right to call out this kind of behavior". Hamilton and other Mercedes employees sent him private messages of support after the incident.

Latifi finished in 17th place in the Drivers' Championship with seven points, nine points behind Russell.

In the first race of the year, the , Latifi qualified last and finished the race in 16th. A week later at Jeddah, he crashed on his own during both qualifying and the race. He did not finish higher than 16th until round 5, the (14th), and did not beat Albon in a race until round 6, the . He also crashed on the formation lap of the rain-affected Monaco Grand Prix. He started the race and finished in 15th, but Carlos Sainz accused Latifi of costing him the victory by holding him up under blue flags. The racing press circulated rumours that Latifi would be replaced mid-season by 2021 F2 champion Oscar Piastri following the , but Capito rejected that rumor, and Latifi finished out the season with Williams.

The British Grand Prix was a bright spot for Latifi, who made Q3 for the first time and qualified tenth. He improved to eighth at the start, but finished 12th after suffering floor damage. However, the on-track incidents continued to pile up. At the , Latifi retired after colliding with Kevin Magnussen on lap 38; neither driver accepted sole responsibility for the incident. At the , Latifi spun, knocking Valtteri Bottas out of the race. At the Italian Grand Prix, Latifi's old F2 rival Nyck de Vries filled in for Albon, who withdrew due to appendicitis. De Vries outqualified Latifi and finished ninth compared to Latifi's 15th, which Autosport characterised as "the final nail in the coffin" for Latifi's tenure at Williams. Latifi went on to receive a five-place grid penalty after crashing Zhou Guanyu out of the Singapore Grand Prix.

Despite the grid penalty, the provided one last hurrah for Latifi, who qualified last but scored his first points of the season with a ninth-place finish after fortituously gambling by pitting for intermediate tyres at the end of a safety car restart. In his final race with Williams, the , Latifi's race was compromised when Mick Schumacher sent him into the barriers. He got back on track and nearly finished the race, but retired with an electrical issue and was classified as the 19th-place finisher.

Latifi finished 20th in the Drivers' Championship with two points. Although the Williams car took a step back in 2022, and Latifi finished only two points behind teammate Albon, his qualifying deficit to Albon was significantly worse than his deficit to Russell the year prior. Williams replaced him with academy driver Logan Sargeant for 2023. Latifi admitted that "it's a results-based industry and obviously the performance hasn’t been there this year for many different reasons. ... I have accepted it and just have to move on". He wrote that "many young people around the world would love to be able" to race in Formula One and that he was "very grateful" for the experience.

• Formula One drivers from Canada