It has become a recurring topic during Franco Colapinto's media sessions throughout the 2026 Formula 1 season: the Argentine feeling the need to speak out against abuse on social media.
Colapinto discussed the issue at length during an exclusive interview with Autosport in Monaco, as well as during many of the race weekends that have followed since.
After the Singapore Grand Prix last time out, however, the Alpine driver felt the urgency to go a step further and address his fanbase directly in a video message. Among other things, he said he appreciated all the support from his fans, but added that directing hate towards others does nothing to help his own F1 career.
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Colapinto urges fans to stop online abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”“First of all, I've always been very grateful for all the fans supporting me,” said Colapinto, when asked by Autosport about his statement ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix.
“But I think in every sport and fan base, it's got a bad side as well, the hate side of people putting bad comments and not helping athletes perform at their best. To me, it crossed a few lines lately.
“I think it was probably the last thing I could do, to put out a statement of me talking in a video like that. It was always going to be positive, so I was keen to do it.”
Franco Colapinto, Alpine
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
Explaining what he meant when he said that certain lines had recently been crossed, Colapinto revealed that even members of his own team had been targeted on social media. Colapinto found that unacceptable, prompting him to speak out once again.
“Especially my mechanics got a lot of hate,” revealed the 23-year-old. “My engineers as well, people from my team that want me to do well and that help me to perform. I'm working with them daily and seeing them getting these kind of messages, it just hurts me in general.”
Asked whether these were comments on the team's official Instagram account or personal messages sent to team members, Colapinto replied: “I don’t have their phones, but from what I understand, they receive messages and comments. Again, it just crossed the line for me.”
In practice, this includes mechanics who work on Colapinto's car and make adjustments to, for example, the front wing from one qualifying segment to the next.
They are then wrongly held responsible for a difficult session and subsequently receive hateful messages on their accounts, although Autosport understands that Alpine has taken measures to minimise the impact.
Team members are advised to keep their personal social media accounts private and not show any team logos, in order to minimise the risk of receiving unwanted messages.
Franco Colapinto, Alpine
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
Nevertheless, that does not address the actual problem at its root, which is precisely why Colapinto has once again made an urgent appeal to fans. He also stressed that the problem is not limited to F1, but affects society as a whole.
“I've been talking about this for the last 10 races probably,” he said. “I do my best, but I think it kept crossing some lines. So this was the last thing I could do, making a video, and I think it helped.
“You saw it with Max as well. He also made a statement about it. It's happening a lot around us. It's an issue that we’ve got in sports nowadays, in sports and in many different areas of life. Artists, actors, it's everywhere.
“Personally, it doesn’t hurt me too much. I don't look at those comments too much, I don't put too much attention. But for some it does [affect them]. And that’s why we need to put attention on it. We need to improve it and hopefully this video does improve it slightly.”
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