Nicholas Latifi produced one of the strangest moments of practice at Suzuka this weekend when he took a wrong turn on the track.
TV cameras caught the moment he got lost, turning down a dead end instead of following the track layout in use for this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix. As a result, instead of open track the Williams was faced with an Armco barrier, forcing him into a hasty U-turn.
"The car feels strange," he told his race engineer as he turned around to rejoin the actual track route, perhaps suggesting he had taken that turn on purpose. But not everyone was buying that explanation on social media.
"Latifi says the car felt strange after an off-track moment, but I'm going to risk suggesting he misread the track layout at the chicane and turned right too early when on an in-lap," wrote reporter Chris Medland. "Onboard shows him turning right then seeing a barrier and having to spin the car round."
Fellow journalist Jake Nichol added: "Don't think Latifi is going to get away with saying the car felt strange. He did turn right for the final chicane a little bit too early – although quick thinking on the car problem."
Given the Canadian's struggles to perform this season, and throughout his F1 career, many fans also rushed to claim the error was "the most Latifi thing ever". Although Rory Mitchell did attempt to offer a small defence for the racer, admitting the session was early in the day.
Latifi will drop off the grid at the end of this season after Williams confirmed last month that his three-year spell with the team would be coming to an end. The Canadian's results simply haven't been good enough to earn a new deal.
And his chances of changing that this weekend took a blow before he even arrived in Japan, thanks to a five-place grid penalty from last weekend. That punishment was handed out after a crash with Zhou Guanyu at the Singapore Grand Prix, which he caused by squeezing the Alfa Romeo into a wall.
Latifi later admitted the video evidence of that incident was damning, but was still angry that he was punished without being able to argue his case. "Not being able to go to the stewards and give my side of events and different points that weren't considered, that was a bit of frustrating, because we're always talking about the consistency amongst decisions and penalties and whatnot," he said."
