Pierre Gasly has revealed that he and his family have received "disturbing" abuse from fans of Franco Colapinto following an incident between the two at the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid two weeks ago.
The incident occurred when Gasly, running a contra-strategy, stayed out longer and became slow, allowing his Alpine teammate Colapinto, who was being chased by McLaren's Oscar Piastri, to catch him quickly. Colapinto eventually finished seventh.
However, the incident sparked a negative social media reaction from Colapinto fans, with Gasly and his family subjected to "disturbing" abuse. Speaking on Thursday ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Gasly said, "Personally, I find it a little bit disturbing for our sport. I'm a top athlete, so I know I'm exposed; it's always been the case. But the extent of the threats, attacks, I find completely inappropriate, especially when it reaches out to family members, girlfriend, etc. I don't think that should be the case."
Gasly added that things were not that way in the past, and as a sport, we need to find a way to make it a healthier place. "You can be liked, disliked; it's completely fine. But there is a certain line that should not be crossed just because you're behind a screen and a keyboard, and these lines are crossed too many times," he stated.
Colapinto responded, hoping the abuse would stop. "Hopefully, they can stop it," he said. "The same happened to other drivers, Yuki [Tsunoda] last year, it was quite bad as well at one point; I talked about it. The stewards, after Zandvoort, I went to see them as well. They had some abuse after the penalty they gave me. It happens a lot with fans in Formula 1, in any sport nowadays - it's something very common. Unfortunately, that shouldn't be common. Definitely, we should be taking more care about things, the words that come out of the keyboards of everyone."
Social media abuse from Colapinto fans has been a widespread problem this season. Esteban Ocon was sent death threats by fans of the Argentine driver after a collision at the Chinese Grand Prix. The FIA also condemned comments made by Colapinto sponsor Mercado Libre after he was given a penalty at the Dutch Grand Prix. Colapinto himself hasn't been unscathed by online controversies, with Haas having to issue a statement after a collision in Japan with Ollie Bearman led to the Alpine driver receiving online abuse.
This case highlights the dark side of social media in motorsport, where drivers and their families become targets of verbal attacks that should not happen. Gasly hopes for further action to create a safer and healthier environment for everyone involved in the sport.
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