Welcome to Office Hours, a Paddock Project exclusive interview series with drivers, team principals, and top executives in and around the world of Formula 1. Today’s interview is with Nicholas Latifi, former Williams F1 Driver and founder of Leve Agave.
Athletes tend to have a retirement problem.
Careers built on physical peak are, by definition, short. Unless, of course, you’re Fernando Alonso.
But for most Formula 1 drivers, the cliff can feel especially steep. You’ve spent your whole life dedicated to a singular pursuit, fighting for one of the now twenty-two seats in the world. As Nicholas Latifi recently told me, “You can be out just as quickly as you got in.”
One season you’re flying between continents on a tightly choreographed calendar; the next, the schedule disappears, you’re subject to the speed limit, and the question becomes unavoidable: what now?
There are well-worn answers to that question — broadcasting, investing, moving to a different racing category — but pursuing an MBA has rarely been one of them.
That’s what Latifi did, and I think it may be one of the most rational post-F1 paths yet.
Latifi, who drove for Williams starting in 2020, left F1 in 2022 and went to London Business School to pursue his MBA. Many drivers don’t finish high school. Latifi did, but he didn’t have an undergraduate degree.
PSA for anyone in the same boat: turns out you can still get a Masters.
Upon graduation in 2025, he and his co-founders launched Leve, a mid-strength agave spirit positioned as an alternative to zero-proof and high-proof spirits.
F1 drivers love a good beverage brand. Think Lewis Hamilton’s Almave, Valtteri Bottas’ Oath Gin, Daniel Ricciardo’s Enchanté Rose, Alex Albon’s Albono Vino, or Pierre Gasly’s Secret Stuff (if and when that launches).
Athlete-backed beverage brands are nothing new. What’s less common is treating one as a real operating company rather than a personal brand extension. Latifi’s approach — shaped by business school and built alongside co-founders — stood out enough that I wanted to understand how it came together.
As a fellow MBA student, I reached out to Latifi to discuss his post-F1 life: what does and doesn’t he miss? Why business school? Why start a company? What advice does he have for other drivers taking the next step?
He gave me thoughtful, candid answers that together offer one of the clearest accounts of post-F1 psychology I’ve heard.
Here’s my conversation with him in full.
