‘It hurts me’: Colapinto explains his message against online hate

Franco Colapinto explains the background to his video statement and emphasises that he is, above all, concerned for his team-mates

Franco Colapinto has once again spoken out against hateful messages on social media. After Alpine’s mechanics and engineers had also recently been targeted, the Argentine released a video message to his fans following the Singapore Grand Prix. In Austin, he now explains why he felt compelled to take this step.

“My mechanics, in particular, have been on the receiving end of a lot of hate. My engineers too – people from my team who want me to do well and who help me to perform,” says Colapinto when asked about his video statement. “I work with them every day, and when I see that they’re receiving messages like that, it hurts me deeply.”

In his statement, Colapinto had announced his withdrawal from social media and emphasised that some fans were crossing a line, which had to be stopped. “I know you think you’re defending me by doing this, but you’re achieving exactly the opposite. It helps neither me nor my future,” he had said.

In Austin, he is now reiterating this message: “I think in every sport and every fanbase there’s also a dark side – the dark side of hate, where people leave nasty comments and don’t help athletes perform at their best,” he says. “For me, a few lines have been crossed recently.”

He said he’d regarded the video as the last possible step to bring about change. “I thought it was probably the last thing I could do: release a statement in which I speak in a video like this. It definitely had to be something positive, which is why I was determined to do it.”

Alpine staff come under fire from fans

As far as Colapinto is aware, his team members are being harassed both via private messages and through public comments. However, he cannot say for certain: “I don’t have their mobile phones, but as I understand it, they are receiving messages and comments. As I said, for me, a line was simply crossed,” he says.

Those affected include, amongst others, the mechanics working on the Argentine’s car. If, for example, changes to the front wing between two qualifying sessions do not produce the desired result, they are sometimes blamed for a difficult session and subsequently subjected to hostility.

Colapinto does not, however, see this as a solution to the underlying problem. He says he has been talking about this for a long time and had hoped the situation would improve: “I’ve probably been talking about this for the last ten races. I’m doing my best, but I felt that lines were still being crossed.”

“So the video was the last thing I could do. And I think it helped.”

Colapinto: Hate is not just a Formula 1 problem

The Argentine emphasises that he himself can cope relatively well with such comments. He hardly reads them and pays them little attention. Other people, however, could be affected much more severely – which is precisely why he considers it important to address the issue publicly.

“We’ve seen it with Max too. He’s spoken out about it as well. There’s a lot going on around us at the moment,” says Colapinto. “It’s a problem we face in sport these days – in sport and in many different areas of life. Artists, actors – it’s everywhere.”

His appeal is therefore not directed solely at Formula 1 fans: “It doesn’t affect me personally all that much. I don’t really look at these comments and I don’t pay them much attention. But it does affect some people. And that’s exactly why we need to draw attention to it. We need to improve things, and hopefully this video will contribute a little bit to that.”