Nicholas Latifi has denied he has signed a deal to race in IndyCar next year, stating he finds the reports that he has done so “funny”.
Latifi will depart Williams at the end of the year, bringing an end to his three-season stint with the team.
The Canadian driver has not revealed his 2023 plans yet, insisting that he is still in discussions with various teams in multiple disciplines regarding a race seat.
A recent report suggested that Latifi had already signed to race in IndyCar next year – however the 27-year-old refuted the claim.
“Honestly, I’m still not committed to anything, I haven’t signed anything, I’m still not any further along in having concrete news to share,” he said.
“I saw the news over the past days that I’ve already signed a contract to race in IndyCar which I found a little bit funny.
“But I’ve spoken to a few different teams in different categories and I’ve still not said to myself, ‘OK, it’s this or nothing’-type thing. So there’s still a lot of things that are up in the air.
“In a way it’s a bit… ‘annoying’ is not the word, but obviously most of my focus is still on finishing off the rest of the year on as high note as possible and end this chapter with Williams on the positive side.
“Obviously a lot of other series have been finished now for quite a while and things move fast in motorsport and it’s a time when everyone wants to get their drivers and situations sorted as soon as possible.
“It still has not really been that long ago that I officially found out [about his Williams departure] – it was just before Singapore.
“So yeah, there’s still some discussions ongoing but nothing ready to announce.”
Latifi admits that there is an appeal to race in IndyCar going forward, due to the competitive nature of the series, with all chassis built by Dallara.
“Yes, it’s definitely one of the appeals of the series,” he said. “Obviously, spec racing, everyone has more of an equal opportunity. It’s something that no doubt I’ve been missing the past few years.
“Every now and then we’re in a position where we’re slightly more competitive for a race and we might have a few on-track battles but obviously we’re not doing that in every race – more often than not, that’s not the case.
“So that for sure is what I’ve been missing, and yeah, I’d definitely be looking forward to that if I was to join a series where it is more equal.”
