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Actor

1995-06-29 · Montreal, Quebec, Canada · Male

5 series in the catalog

Nicholas Daniel Latifi (; born 29 June 1995) is a Canadian former racing driver who competed in Formula One from 2020 to 2022.

Born in Montreal and raised in Toronto, Latifi is the son of Iranian-Canadian billionaire businessman Michael Latifi. Graduating from karting to junior formulae in 2012, Latifi made his racing debut in the Italian Formula Three Championship. He achieved his highest Formula Three finish at the 2013 British International Series, finishing fifth with Carlin. Making his GP2 Series debut in 2014, Latifi achieved a full-time drive for DAMS in 2016. After four full seasons in GP2—now known as the FIA Formula 2 Championship—Latifi finished runner-up to Nyck de Vries in 2019.

Latifi served as a test driver for Renault from 2016 to 2017, and as a reserve driver for Force India—later known as Racing Point—in 2018. A member of the Williams Driver Academy since 2019, Latifi signed for Williams in 2020 to partner George Russell, making his Formula One debut at the Austrian Grand Prix, where he finished 11th. After a non-scoring season with the FW43, Latifi scored his maiden points finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2021, repeating this feat in Belgium. Retaining his seat for 2022, Latifi finished ninth at the rain-affected Japanese Grand Prix. Latifi was replaced by Logan Sargeant at the conclusion of the season, marking the end of his Formula One career.

Early and personal life

Nicholas Daniel Latifi was born on 29 June 1995 in Montreal, Quebec, and grew up in North York, Toronto. He is the son of Michael Latifi, an Iranian-Canadian billionaire businessman who is the CEO of Sofina Foods, Inc. and also owns the British Virgin Islands company Nidala. His mother, Marilena Latifi (née Russo), an Italian-Canadian with Sicilian parents, was born into the Saputo family, which founded the dairy company Saputo Inc. Latifi has three siblings: Sophia, Michael Alexander (a voice actor), and Matthew. His car number, 6, references a nickname of his home city, Toronto.

Latifi attended Crescent School, an independent boys' school, graduating in 2013. He was named to the school's Alumni Wall of Honour in 2021. Because of his heavy racing schedule, he spent most of his high school years attending school remotely.

Latifi was a relative latecomer to motorsport and had a long junior career. He began karting at the age of thirteen. He then spent four years karting and eight years in junior formulae. As a result, he joined Formula One at the age of 24, which he said was "definitely on the older side."

After leaving Formula One, Latifi decided to quit motorsport altogether and enrolled at London Business School in 2023, to study for a Master of Business Administration (MBA). He completed his MBA program after two years of study and in 2025 announced his graduation. In the same year, he co-founded Leve Agave Spirit, a mid-strength (22% ABV) agave spirit brand that launched in the UK in 2025.

Karting

Latifi began his karting career in 2009. In 2010, he finished as the runner-up in the Rotax Junior class of the Canadian National Karting Championship. Latifi continued competing in Canadian and American karting series until 2012, when he won the Florida Winter Tour championship in the Rotax DD2 class. He later made an appearance in the Shifter ROK class of the Florida Winter Tour in 2015, competing against former Formula One drivers Rubens Barrichello and Nelson Piquet Jr.

Formula Three and Renault 3.5

Latifi spent four years in various European Formula Three competitions. He made his single-seater debut in the 2012 Italian Formula Three Championship with BVM, placing seventh with one win and four podiums.

In 2013, Latifi started the year in the Toyota Racing Series (Giles Motorsport), an early-season warm-up competition. He finished ninth. He then concurrently competed in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship and the British Formula 3 International Series, both with Carlin. He placed 15th in European Formula Three and fifth in British Formula Three, and took a podium in the latter competition at Brands Hatch. He also placed seventh at the 2013 Masters of Formula 3 race at Zandvoort.

2014 was a busy year for Latifi, who competed in 53 races across six competitions. In his sophomore European F3 campaign, he switched to Prema Powerteam and finished tenth. Although he competed against future F1 drivers Esteban Ocon and Max Verstappen, he scored a second-place finish at Silverstone and six top-five finishes. He skipped the final round of the season to compete in Formula Renault 3.5 with Tech 1 Racing, scoring a second-place finish at Jerez in the final race of the season. In November, he competed in the Macau Grand Prix, finishing fifth in the feature race.

In 2015, Latifi joined Formula Renault 3.5 full-time, spending the 2015 season with Arden Motorsport. He finished 11th, with his best finishes being two fourth-place results at Spa and at Spielberg.

Sportscar racing

Latifi competed in the 2012 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge for Rehagen Racing, driving a Ford Mustang GT. In 2014, he made an appearance in the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain driving for Redline Racing at Rockingham. He retired from the first round but scored a fourth-place finish in the second round. He had a longer campaign in 2015, competing in four of the eight rounds and taking second place in the first race at Oulton Park. He finished 11th in the standings.

GP2 / FIA Formula 2

From 2016 to 2019, Latifi spent four full seasons in the GP2 Series and its successor, FIA Formula 2, all with the DAMS team. He also participated in cameos in 2014 and 2015.

2014–2016: Early campaigns in GP2

Latifi joined GP2 for two races in 2014, replacing Hilmer Motorsport's Daniel Abt, who dropped out due to Formula E commitments. He placed 22nd and 17th. In 2015, he competed in eight races with MP Motorsport, with a best finish of 11th at Sakhir. In 2016, Latifi joined GP2 full-time with DAMS, but had a difficult season and finished 16th, 101 points behind teammate Alex Lynn. He scored three points finishes, including a podium at the season opener in Barcelona. However, he set the fastest time in post-season testing.

2017–2018: Maiden victories

Latifi remained in the category as it rebranded to the FIA Formula 2 Championship in 2017. He led most of the Barcelona sprint race, but lost the lead after running wide through the gravel, and settled for third. He picked up his maiden F2 race win at the Silverstone sprint race, when he started third, grabbed the lead at the start, and dominated the rest of the race. At Monza, he fought his way back from 14th to third during the rain-affected feature race. He placed fifth in the championship with 178 points, thirteen points behind teammate Oliver Rowland. For the year, he collected one win and nine podiums in 22 races. Motorsport.com ranked him the No. 14 junior single-seater driver of 2017, predicting that he could be "a genuine threat for the title" in 2018.

Latifi took a step back in 2018, when a new F2 car was introduced. He opined that the new car was poorly suited to his driving style and that he was forced to "change pretty much everything I know about driving, all my natural instincts." He was hampered by qualifying issues and occasionally chaotic race starts, but mounted notable recovery drives at Bahrain (pit lane to tenth), Baku (last to fifth), Monaco (18th to ninth), Paul Ricard (17th to seventh), and Spielberg (19th to 11th). All together, he scored three podiums and one win at Spa-Francorchamps, and finished the season in ninth place with 91 points, 121 points behind third-placed teammate (and future F1 teammate) Alex Albon. At the end of the season, PaddockScout opined that "once Latifi got up to speed with the new car, he wasn't far off [Albon's pace], outqualifying him in two of the last three rounds," and predicted a bounce-back season in 2019. Latifi joined the Williams Driver Academy at the end of the season.

2019…