Franco Colapinto has urged his fans to stop abusing Formula 1 drivers after several unpalatable cases following his emergence on the grid.
Since the Argentine’s arrival at Alpine last year, the team have been forced to release statements condemning the social media abuse of drivers involved in incidents with Colapinto.
Most recently, Lando Norris was subject to abuse last month after stating Colapinto should be “banned” after a crash in Azerbaijan, comments the Brit later apologised for. Even an Argentine politician, foreign minister Pablo Quirno, took aim at Norris and accused him of hypocrisy.
A week earlier, Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly hit out at the “disturbing” abuse of his girlfriend and family following the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid. Yuki Tsunoda was also subject to a barrage of abuse online after an incident in Imola last year.
Now, in a video on Instagram, 23-year-old Colapinto has urged his fans to stop. "I probably should have spoken to all of you sooner, but this is something that needs to be addressed, something we need to change and improve," he said.
"I will always be grateful, and I genuinely feel incredibly fortunate to have had you all supporting me from the very beginning. I'm grateful for all the support you give me, for how you help me achieve results, and for how you constantly push me to aim higher.
"You help me and the team achieve our results, race after race, day after day, as we train and try to improve. And I'm genuinely grateful for all of that.
"I know it makes you incredibly proud when things go well for me, when I score points for myself and the team. And I have always been very grateful for that support. But sometimes, we go too far.
"Instead of supporting me, we end up criticising people and attacking other drivers, other colleagues, my teammates, my mechanics, my engineers -- people I work with every single day.
"I know you think you're defending me, but you're actually doing the opposite. You're not helping me or my future."
De facto Alpine boss Flavio Briatore has already threatened to remove access to Colapinto for Argentine media should the abuse continue.
Colapinto is in his second season for Alpine, having made his debut for Williams in 2024. His time at the team was recently extended for the 2027 season after a positive second year, where he has scored 27 points. After replacing Jack Doohan in May last year, he did not score a point all campaign.
The next race is the United States Grand Prix in Austin on 23-25 October.
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