Four-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen has firmly condemned the wave of online hate and harassment directed at his GT World Challenge Europe teammate, Chris Lulham, following a dramatic race weekend at the Portimao circuit. The Dutch driver refused to stay silent as toxic social media reactions targeted his garage partner after a controversial on-track incident.
The weekend for the No.3 Team Verstappen Mercedes squad was far from straightforward, kicking off with a challenging qualifying session on Friday. However, Ben Barnicoat delivered a stellar opening stint, steering the car up to second place before pitting after a demanding 66-minute run against a fierce grid of competitors.
Lulham then took over the cockpit, rejoining the track in eighth position before getting involved in an unfortunate on-track collision with the No.11 Mercedes. The stewards swiftly handed down a drive-through penalty for the contact, plunging the car down the order to 16th and complicating their recovery mission.
When the final pit stop arrived to hand over driving duties to Verstappen for the closing stretch, the team faced a massive mountain to climb as they exited the pits way down in 24th place. True to his racing pedigree, the Red Bull star immediately launched a ferocious charge through the field, steadily picking off rivals to salvage an impressive ninth-place finish at the checkered flag.
Unfortunately, the stellar comeback drive was overshadowed by hostile online abuse directed at Lulham for the earlier penalty incident. Stepping up to protect his teammate, Verstappen took to social media to voice his absolute disgust at the personal attacks flooding digital platforms.
"I also feel I need to speak up about the hate and harassment Chris has received after the race," Verstappen stated. "Everyone can have their opinions about what happened on track, but these personal attacks are not okay. Chris had a really strong stint and mistakes can happen. There’s no place for this kind of abuse in our sport or anywhere else."
Despite the off-track drama and race penalties, Verstappen's debut outing in the GT World Challenge Europe series proved to be a rewarding learning curve. The Formula 1 dominator expressed his genuine delight in sampling GT3 machinery in Portugal alongside his dedicated crew.
"Exciting weekend! Was very happy to be racing our GT3 car in Portimao. There were some ups and downs, but as a team we learnt a lot," Verstappen concluded.
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