The FIA, Formula 1's governing body, has strongly condemned the online abuse directed at its race stewards following their contentious decision to penalise Franco Colapinto at the Dutch Grand Prix. The ruling sparked fierce backlash from the Argentine driver's sponsor, Mercado Libre, which went as far as questioning the stewards' integrity.
The controversy began on lap one at Zandvoort when Colapinto and Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad were both handed drive-through penalties for overtaking under double-waved yellow flags. The yellows were deployed following a heavy crash involving Max Verstappen in the final marshal sector, forcing both drivers to take evasive action to avoid debris.
In their official verdict, the stewards acknowledged the challenging conditions but stressed that the rules were clear. "Car 43 was behind Car 22 entering Turn 14 and overtook Car 22 in the double yellow flag sector before the line at the end of Lap 1," they wrote. "Normally, such infringement requires a 10-second stop-go penalty, but the Stewards acknowledge the complications caused by the significant amount of debris on track at this point and take this into account as mitigating circumstances."
Colapinto felt the penalty was "extremely harsh" as he passed Yuki Tsunoda just moments after the yellows came out. However, under the letter of the law, the infraction was clear-cut, given the FIA's strict stance on safety-related violations. Despite this, Mercado Libre's chief marketing officer, Sean Summers, accused the stewards of "killing the integrity of F1" and questioned their competence and honesty.
The sponsor's inflammatory remarks fuelled a torrent of online abuse directed at the stewards and Alpine's social media channels, with a vocal group of Argentine fans feeling the team had not defended Colapinto strongly enough. On Monday, Alpine issued a statement expressing full confidence in the FIA and the stewards' application of the rules during live racing scenarios.
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