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Alpine F1 and the FIA issued a statement after Jack Doohan and Yuki Tsunoda faced online abuse from a large contingent of Argentinian fans on social media during the 2025 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. The Argentine fans have been raucous since Franco Colapinto debuted on the grid with Williams F1 last year.
With Colapinto moving to the French team at the start of the year as one of their reserve drivers, his fans had targeted Doohan and the Aussie's father on social media with nasty comments. Notably, the Argentine's supporters wanted to see the driver race for Alpine in 2025.
With the situation worsening, Doohan, the young Aussie driver had to hire personal security for himself and his family in Miami. However, Doohan spoke about the mounting online abuse on social media by the Argentine fans when they targeted his father, Mick Doohan, for a fake post regarding Colapinto's crash in Imola qualifying.
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Not just Doohan, the fan abuse was even flung towards Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda, as he blocked Franco Colapinto in one of the sessions in Imola. To reduce further escalation, Alpine F1 released a statement regarding online abuse on Instagram and said:
"As an F1 team, we believe we are fortunate to be a part of global sport that evokes great passion and emotions with an ever-growing community of fans who enthusiastically follow their favourite drivers every move, whether it be a brave overtake contract or what style they are sporting when they arrive in the paddock.
"We encourage everyone to remember that behind the visor of the superhuman athletes, there is a person. An individual with feelings, family, friends, and loved ones. As a team, ee cannot condone online violence and urge all fans of the sport we love to be kind and respectful,"
Not just Alpine but the FIA too stood against online abuse as a part of their United Against Online Abuse campaign.
FIA follows Alpine in speaking out against online fan abuse on Yuki Tsunoda and Jack Doohan
FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem and the governing body released a statement against the online abuse directed toward Yuki Tsunoda on social media.
The Emirati even complimented Tsunoda and Colapinto for standing up to online hate and wrote:
"Motorsport is built on competition, passion, and commitment, and every race drivers take to the track representing these values. The passion and excitement that we see for our sport should unite us and never be twisted into abuse or hate.
"I stand in full support of Yuki Tsunoda and Frank Colapinto. And I thank them for speaking out against the growing issue of online obvious in motorsport," Mohammed Ben Sulayem added.
Alpine driver Franco Colapinto also spoke out against Argentine fans giving aggressive reactions to Jack Doohan and Yuki Tsunoda and urged the fans to be "respectful and keep it calm there."
