F1’s governing body have released an official statement over online abuse, specifically mentioning the cases of F1 stars Jack Doohan and Yuki Tsunoda.

Both Doohan and Tsunoda were subject to vile abuse during the Imola Grand Prix weekend, following incidents surrounding a small proportion of Franco Colapinto fans on social media.

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At the time, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem issued a statement condemning the abuse, and pointing to the FIA’s United Against Online Abuse campaign.

However, since then, a number of F1 journalists have spoken out about their experience of online abuse, with Lee McKenzie and Sky Sports’ Rachel Brookes both being subject to harmful comments on social media in recent weeks.

Now, the FIA’s latest statement, published on International Day of Countering Hate Speech, has cited protecting journalists and drivers from the horrors of online abuse.

“Today marks the International Day of Countering Hate Speech,” the official statement posted to Instagram read.

“The FIA United Against Online Abuse campaign is committed to protecting athletes, officials, journalists, fans, and everyone involved in sport. “With new research, education programmes, and continued advocacy, we are taking strides in the right direction. In 2024 alone, we have welcomed five scholars to our community, published our industry-leading barometer, grown our community by 184 per cent and boosted awareness through collaborations with events and governments.

F1 drivers facing increased levels of abuse

Tsunoda was subject to abuse after an on-track incident involving Colapinto during practice in Imola earlier this year, with both drivers acknowledging and condemning the offensive and racially motivated comments.

Doohan, meanwhile, had threats made against his family after being replaced by Colapinto at Alpine, with a fake image allegedly showing Doohan’s father Mick laughing at a Colapinto crash doing the rounds on social media, with the parody account apologising and revealing it was a completely doctored image in the aftermath.

The Aussie driver told trolls to leave him and his family alone, but the ticking time bomb of social media in 2025 has unfortunately made abuse against drivers, journalists and other paddock personnel more common.

The FIA have been stern in their response and are hoping the United Against Online Abuse campaign will begin to counter the issue, calling on social media platforms to do more to protect those in the sport.

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Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri’s battle at the F1 Canadian Grand Prix could prove decisive in the context of the championship fight.

Norris crashed into the start straight wall (no, no, no, not the wall of champions!) and out of the race with four laps to go in Montreal while trying to pass his McLaren team-mate. He took full blame for the incident, but the loss of at least 10 world championship points could prove crucial come the end of the season.

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It will do little to damage McLaren’s stroll towards the constructors’ championship, and the team should still be commended for allowing its drivers to fight in the interest of entertainment and keeping their drivers satisfied.

This isn’t a new thing for McLaren but it has bitten them very hard in the past where a decision to let drivers race has left them leaving world title success on the table.

Most famously in 2007 when the squabbles between Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton resulted in Kimi Raikkonen swooping in from out of nowhere like a Randy Orton RKO to snatch drivers’ title glory.

The pivotal point came now over 18 years ago when then world champion Alonso was dicing for a victory at the US Grand Prix against his rookie team-mate Hamilton.

Hamilton had just won his first race in Canada and was leading the title fight from Alonso by eight points (in the 10 points for a victory era).

What caused Alonso and McLaren fallout in 2007?

The trouble was Alonso had No 1 status (at least in his mind) as part of his switch to the Woking outfit the previous winter from Renault.

So when Alonso was all over Hamilton’s gearbox as the obvious faster driver at Indianapolis – a tough call would have to be made.

Did McLaren tell surprise title leader Hamilton to let Alonso through as part of keeping their prized asset happy and risk angering the breakthrough British star who had a very strong championship claim?

Or did they ‘let them race’ and risk infuriating the proven best driver on the grid at that time.

The answer was the latter and while it seemed the correct call at the time, it proved damaging and arguably key to the events that would later unfold on and off the track that lost McLaren the drivers’ title, and maybe the constructors’ championship too (more on that in a moment!).

Alonso protested not being let through quite clearly on the track, having been obviously held up, by weaving on the pit-straight as a clear message that he should be let through.

What triggered McLaren’s spygate scandal?

It was at this point of the 2007 season that the Alonso/McLaren relationship started to unravel into a downward spiral.

Alonso’s political stance, and alleged blackmail against the team, involving the infamous spygate scandal and more team-mate skullduggery at the Hungarian Grand Prix a few weeks later, would put the team in crisis.

As well documented, the season ended with both the McLaren stars missing out on the world title by one point to Raikkonen. McLaren were also on the receiving end of an astonishing $100m fine from the FIA and kicked out of that year’s constructors’ championship after the Spygate scandal was self-reported – which, rightly or wrongly also might never have seen the light of day had the McLaren camp been a little bit more harmonious.

Had McLaren simply backed Alonso and gave him No 1 status and the path to US GP victory, they would have claimed the 2007 drivers’ championship with the Spaniard. Along with Hamilton, it wouldn’t have been unrealistic to imagine many more titles across the following seasons, especially in 2010 and 2012 despite the Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel dominance at the time.

It’s a real sliding doors moment in F1 that tends to go unnoticed – in much the same way for Norris’ title credentials following his moment of self proclaimed ‘stupidity’ in Canada.