Racing
© Jonathan Borba
Formula 1 drivers and senior figures have joined FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem in backing the inaugural United Against Online Abuse Day, a new campaign that the governing body launched around the British Grand Prix and marked on 7 July with the message that online abuse has no place in the sport.
The push was given a unified platform in the Silverstone paddock, where UAOA branding was prominent and all drivers, Ben Sulayem and Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali took part in the show of support. The campaign is aimed at bringing together the wider motorsport community to tackle abuse that has increasingly targeted drivers and other figures online.
Its message landed with added force after Esteban Ocon said he had been subjected to online abuse this season. One account of the incidents said the Haas driver received death threats after an on-track clash with Franco Colapinto in China, while other campaign material referred to hate messages after the Japanese Grand Prix. Ocon used the campaign to warn against treating that behavior as part of modern sport.
"If you start accepting that [online abuse], you accept that this is reality, this is normality, and that is not the case," Ocon said.
Ben Sulayem, introducing the FIA-backed message, said the issue goes beyond individual incidents. "Online abuse undermines our competitions and endangers our athletes, officials, and fans," he said. "It erodes the very spirit of sport. But together, we can change that."
Other figures across the paddock echoed the same point from different angles. Kimi Antonelli said that being a professional athlete does not make drivers any less human. Fernando Alonso said rivalry is part of sport, but respect has to come first regardless of team loyalties. McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown called on fans and the wider community to stand up against abuse and said more positive messages can drown out those spreading hate.
By putting the full F1 paddock behind its first dedicated anti-abuse day, the FIA is trying to frame the issue not as background noise around the championship but as a threat to the people and competition the sport depends on.