Ahead of the 2026 F1 weekend in Malaysia, Alpine’s Franco Colapinto discussed the social media abuse faced by drivers. This comes after a mistake at the Azerbaijan GP took Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly out of Sundays race.
Lando Norris made comments in the media pen after the race that did not go down well online amongst fans. The Brit has since apologised publicly. Franco Colapinto shared his message to fans regarding the backlash and hateful comments drivers face.
Franco Colapinto addresses the increase in social media backlash following driver mistakes
Speaking in a print media session in Malaysia ahead of the weekend, Colapinto discussed the increasing backlash online. The Argentine stated that it is diffucult for the teams and the organistation to control the abuse drivers face.
“I think we talk the same every weekend and it’s something that has been there for a long time. Of course, there are times when it’s worse than others. As drivers, we have the responsibility to make it better.
“So yeah, I think we keep working all together to try and improve it. It’s tricky. I think it comes from every fan base of every driver.
“Whatever happens, it comes. Some are worse than others. Some are more passionate than others.
“It’s something tricky to control from our side. We do our best, but it’s always very difficult.”
Colapinto reflects on Norris’s comments following the F1 Azerbijan GP “I think he was in the heat of the moment”
During the restart in Baku following the safety car, Colapinto locked up into turn 1. This caused a collision between himself and his Alpine teammate, Pierre Gasly. Lando Norris was also caught up in the carnage which forced all three drivers to retire from the race.
Following the race, Norris made some comments towards Colapinto that caused lots of backlash on social media. Since then, the Brit has publicly and privately apologised for his comments.
Ahead of this weekend, Franco Colapinto addressed the comments made by his fellow F1 driver. The Alpine driver suggested that drivers need to be “safe” with what they say.
“I think he was in the heat of the moment, of course. He knows what comments create because he suffered from it. He was probably the driver that was speaking the most about hate a couple of years ago, just a few seasons ago.
“So, I was a bit surprised, but of course, he apologised. Unfortunately, he also got a lot of hate from it. It’s a tricky situation with the outside world and that’s why I think we need to be safe inside [the paddock] with the things we say.
“I understand being in the heat of the moment to say things like that.”
Colapinto’s message to F1 fans engaging in toxic online behaviour and abuse on social media: “We are humans”
Online absue has become a regular occurence in F1. Following the Azerbijan GP, Alpine put out a statement condeming the abuse sent to their own drivers and Norris over the past week.
Franco Colapinto shared a message to the fans who engage in hateful behaviour on social media.
“My message is always the same, you know, that they sometimes don’t realise what you can create by writing in your keyboard and that we are all very sensible, we are humans and it’s not easy for us when we get these kinds of things. I think it always goes to Argentinians, but I think we miss that it doesn’t come only from Argentinians.
“It comes a lot from them. I fully agree. It doesn’t just come from them. They are extremely passionate and they support me a lot.
“It’s bad and they are bad many times. But it comes from all the world and from many other fanbases. I don’t know if we are not seeing it.
“I get loads of it, and no one ever talks about it. I mean, it’s fine.
“I mean, especially because I don’t look at social media too much. I don’t go into it. But I know it affects a lot of people and a lot of drivers and a lot of athletes more than me.
“I hope that they improve. I’ve been asking it for a long time. It’s tricky for us drivers to control it.
“I think we are the ones to not feel them more. But we are also really struggling to improve the situation by ourselves. Because we try.
“For me, it’s been since last year that I’ve been talking about it. I am doing my best, but it’s tricky to do a change.”
