FIA condemns abuse after Colapinto penalty backlash

The FIA condemned online abuse directed at its stewards after the Dutch Grand Prix, following a fierce public attack from Mercado Libre chief marketing officer Sean Summers over the penalties given to Alpine driver Franco Colapinto.

“Following the Dutch Grand Prix, FIA stewards were targeted with online abuse after applying sporting penalties in line with FIA regulations,” the governing body said. It added that disagreement with decisions is part of sport but “must never justify threats or personal attacks.”

The backlash followed Colapinto’s opening-lap drive-through penalty at Zandvoort for overtaking Racing Bulls driver Yuki Tsunoda under yellow flags after Max Verstappen crashed. The Alpine driver also received two penalty points for that infringement, then a further 10-second penalty for another yellow-flag offence, and finished 14th.

Colapinto said the drive-through “compromised our entire race,” arguing that he saw the yellow flag only as he was completing the pass. With the track wet and the straight banked, he said braking heavily while other cars were spinning would have created a greater risk.

Summers, a senior executive at Colapinto’s principal sponsor Mercado Libre, escalated the criticism in a post on X. “FIA stewards are killing the integrity of F1,” he wrote. “This season they are proving to be horrible and impacting race results. Incompetence? Dishonesty? Both? Something is seriously broken in that organisation’s culture.”

Alpine took a markedly different position in its response. In a statement to Crash.net, an Alpine spokesperson said the team had “full trust in the FIA and the stewards,” while accepting that the penalties were harsh. The team said the sanctions were within the letter of the rules and had been applied consistently across competitors.

That consistency extended to Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad, who received an identical drive-through for a similar yellow-flag pass on the opening lap, leaving Alpine to review the incident while its sponsor’s criticism has drawn the FIA’s public intervention.