Dozens of fans were chanting his name at Imola as their favourite Formula 1 driver climbed the pitwall after the race to greet them. But this was not a Ferrari driver celebrating, let’s say, a podium on home soil. Instead, it was Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, who had come home in 16th place after a muted first grand prix upon his F1 return last weekend.
The attention surrounding Colapinto beggars belief. The 21-year-old appeared on the scene last year from close to nowhere, being handed Logan Sargeant’s Williams seat in Monza after impressing team boss James Vowles through his reserve driver duties and an FP1 outing at Silverstone.
Little could have prepared Williams for the increased interest and scrutiny as Argentina yearned for its next sporting hero, 23 years after its last representative on the F1 grid. TV ratings in the region shot up, as did the masses of Argentinian fans travelling to any race they could. But, with the swell of interest, came a much more sinister undercurrent of tribalism and abuse, which has been pervading the series ever since its mainstream success through Netflix hit Drive to Survive, which just collected its second Sports Emmy Award.
Football fan behaviour is about the last sport F1 fans should take clues from
The us-versus-them attitude inextricably linked with football and select other sports has increasingly seeped into F1 as the championship attracts a much wider and less knowledgeable audience, coinciding with the advent of social media.
The bitter 2021 title fight between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen devolved in a toxic mess online, from subsets of fans on both sides, and it triggered abuse against third parties including FIA race director Michael Masi and Williams driver Nicholas Latifi, whose Abu Dhabi crash was the catalyst for a dramatic turn of events that ended with Verstappen claiming a controversial title. Racing Bulls man Liam Lawson also faced abuse after clashing with Sergio Perez at last year’s Mexican Grand Prix while effectively vying for the Mexican’s Red Bull seat.
As Colapinto made his return as an Alpine reserve driver this year, a part of his growing fanbase took to social media to harass and pressurise Jack Doohan, Colapinto’s direct rival for the seat.
Abuse started to be directed at Doohan as soon as Colapinto entered the Alpine picture
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
The matter came to a head at last weekend’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix; the first in which Colapinto replaced Doohan as an Alpine racer. A parody account fabricated an Instagram story by Doohan’s father alleging to make fun of Colapinto’s qualifying crash, which was reported as genuine by Argentinian media and led to a further torrent of abuse. Tsunoda also landed in the crosshairs of Argentinian accounts after he and Colapinto were involved in a common and innocuous impeding incident in Friday practice at Imola, with the Red Bull driver abused for gesticulating towards Colapinto.
It’s important to stress we are talking about a vocal minority, and that numerous Argentinian fans also responded to Tsunoda’s Instagram posts with messages of support for the Japanese driver, apologising for the behaviour of others. And the above mentioned examples also show it’s not just an Argentinian problem, nor is it just a motorsport problem.
But, while generalising is not helpful, it would be wrong to ignore the elephant in the room. Subsets of Argentinian fans are embracing a sporting culture that has normalised vitriol and violence much more than other countries. A Copa Libertadores final – South America’s equivalent to the UEFA Champions League – between the country’s two football giants Boca Juniors and River Plate had to be postponed in 2018 after Boca’s team bus was attacked en route to the stadium, leaving several players with injuries, the latest example of a history of violence and abuse surrounding arguably football’s biggest rivalry. The second leg of the final was eventually played in Madrid for safety reasons.
It is an unfortunate by-product of a proud and patriotic fandom culture that has also been transplanted into other sports. When touring car ace Agustin Canapino headed to IndyCar in 2023 to race for the partly Argentinian-owned Juncos Hollinger Racing squad, his team-mate Callum Ilott was the target of abuse on several occasions. In 2024 McLaren’s Theo Pourchaire also reported receiving death threats after contact with the Argentinian at the Detroit Grand Prix.
As a result, Canapino left the series and McLaren called off its alliance with Juncos, with the problematic part of his fans actually undermining its hero’s career rather than boosting it. Those who have abused Doohan, Tsunoda and others in the name of supporting Colapinto would do well to remember that. Colapinto himself has also called on his supporters to “give respect” to his competitors.
Canapino losing his IndyCar drive shows how abuse fans can hinder the drivers they idolise
Photo by: Josh Tons / Motorsport Images
What can actually be done by the motorsport community?
The problem F1 and other sports are facing is obviously a product of its time. Can you imagine social media existing in the days of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost?
But quite how the wider online toxicity problem can be tackled is a different matter. With good intentions, the motorsport community has already taken steps to curb abuse. In 2023 the FIA established the United Against Online Abuse (UAOA) campaign, working with sporting organisations, governments and tech companies to chart online abuse and then find solutions to tackle the issue. F1 itself and its teams have also undertaken work to stamp out abuse, with their digital teams working diligently to block inappropriate content.
As social media has become a staple of how people consume news and information, a part of the responsibility also lies with legacy news organisations. Some companies intentionally publish ‘ragebait’ and even organisations with the best intentions will often struggle to provide enough context and nuance on social media, where time, space and attention spans are in short supply.
The fake post attributed to Mick Doohan, which was published by an account known for parody and satire, was spread and taken at face value by Argentina’s TV rightsholder on which many domestic fans are relying to understand the sport, especially newer followers who recently boarded the Colapinto hype train. The broadcaster has since apologised, but the damage was already done.
Perhaps all media companies can learn lessons from the events over the Imola weekend. But there is only so much teams, media and governing bodies can do before needing help from the social media platforms themselves. And that is appearing to be a major stumbling block.
As an F1 spokesperson said: “Formula 1 is a close community, and we all condemn these acts and will continue to work across the sport to collectively block and report abuse to social media platforms, but we need those platforms to be doing more to stop the spread of vile comments and abuse.”
F1 has waded into the debate and called on social media companies to do more
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Meta, the parent company behind Instagram and Facebook, announced a sweeping reduction of content moderation at the start of the year, changes that were criticised by the company’s oversight board for not doing enough to prevent the amplification of harmful content. Since Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, the platform now branded as ‘X’ has also faced cuts to its global content moderation teams under the banner of free speech.
Governments have been grappling with the endemic issue of digital media’s harmful influence on their population, too, with Australia recently banning children under 16 from using social media. Other administrations are closely studying Canberra’s example.
Putting the social media genie back in the bottle is not an option. So, until platforms step up themselves or are being forced to, it might have to be up to all of us to educate and act responsibly, even if that means we are in for a rough ride.
