Max Verstappen issues strong message to trolls over abuse of GT team-mate

Red Bull Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen has told online trolls to “eff off” after directing abuse at his GT World Challenge driver Chris Lulham last weekend.

The four-time world champion made his debut in the GTWCE finale at Portimao last week, standing in alongside Chris Lulham and Ben Barnicoat.

Joules Gounon and Dani Juncadella, who normally compete in the GWCE Endurance rounds with Lulham in the No.3 Team Verstappen Mercedes, were competing in Barcelona in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The No.3 car was in the podium hunt midway through the race when Lulham made contact with another car and earned a drive-through penalty. This forced Verstappen to recover from outside of the top 20 to ninth in his stint.

“We all make mistakes”

Lulham received abuse on social media following the GTWCE race, which Verstappen responded to through his own channels.

But speaking ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix, Verstappen doubled down on the need to combat online trolls.

“But that starts already with the social media companies themselves, where you can make as many troll accounts as well, with no real names or addresses attached to them,” he said about clamping down on trolling.

“Yeah, people can say whatever they like online. I mean, for me personally, I don’t care if it’s targeted at me; I mean, they can all eff off.

“But when it’s to one of my drivers who is young and is not used to this kind of pressure and attention, when they start writing these kinds of things, it’s quite extreme, and that’s why I felt the need to put that statement out.

“Even though, of course, I’ve talked to him about it, and I try to make sure that he doesn’t really read about it too much, and I know his character.

“I think he’s quite relaxed, but it’s still not nice and definitely not deserved because he’s, first of all, just a great guy.

“He’s, of course, learning. We’re all learning. We all make mistakes. That’s also not a problem for me, right?

“He did such a great job all weekend, and then a tiny little misjudgment. Of course, yeah, it gave us a penalty, but there is no need to throw any kind of hate towards him.

“I think that’s why it was just very important to make that statement.”