The young Argentinian Formula 1 driver, Franco Colapinto, has called on his followers to maintain respect following the online attacks suffered by Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda during the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Colapinto, who is making his season debut with Alpine, owned by Renault, in Imola, after replacing the Australian Jack Doohan, accidentally impeded Tsunoda in Friday’s first practice. Tsunoda responded with gestures towards Colapinto.
After the practice, Tsunoda received a series of abusive comments, many of them in Spanish, on his Instagram account.
Colapinto declared to the media:
I know they are extremely passionate and they are always very hard on people. They have to give respect, and that’s what we all want. There is a lot of hate on social media… Of course, we always try and want, for all the drivers, to keep it respectful and keep it calm there.
Franco Colapinto
Both Tsunoda and Colapinto suffered heavy crashes in separate incidents during Saturday’s qualifying.
In February, after Colapinto joined Alpine as a reserve, with the widespread expectation that he would replace Doohan, the 21-year-old’s manager urged fans to support the entire team.
Tsunoda, who was promoted to the Red Bull main team from Racing Bulls in April, replacing Liam Lawson, told reporters that he was aware of the situation and that F1 might eventually have to intervene.
“If it continues and gets worse and worse, at some point F1 should say something,” he stated.
