F1's governing body and the Alpine team have issued strong rebukes after a wave of online abuse was aimed at Franco Colapinto's rivals following the Argentine driver's Formula 1 return.
After Jack Doohan lost his Alpine race seat to Colapinto following the Miami GP, Doohan's father — motorcycling legend Mick Doohan — shared a social media post showing that Jack's 2025 stats compared reasonably favourably with teammate Pierre Gasly.
Speaking at Imola, Mick said he had simply wanted to "make a point," before also telling DAZN that Alpine now appeared to be a "customer team" open to drivers with the biggest financial backing.
The comments set off a firestorm on social media among Argentine fans. The situation escalated further when a fake Instagram account posing as Mick Doohan shared a photo of Colapinto's Imola crash, sarcastically captioned: "Very impressive."
In response to the growing hostility, Jack Doohan pleaded with fans directly: "Please stop harassing my family."
Alpine quickly stepped in, releasing a public statement condemning the "online abuse" and reminding the F1 community that "behind the visor of these superhuman athletes there is a person."
Colapinto echoed the message by reposting Alpine's statement and issuing his own call for respect — particularly toward Yuki Tsunoda, who was also targeted.
Tsunoda, who gave Colapinto the middle finger after being blocked in practice, later revealed that he too had been bombarded with angry messages from Argentine fans.
"I'm saying this not because of what they say to me, they say too much about Doohan, right?" Tsunoda said. "I don't think he was driving in a comfortable way.
"It's good that they have energy, but just control it. I feel like they can use the energy in a better way."
To his credit, Colapinto admitted fault for the incident.
"I blocked quite a lot of people," he said. "It was just the first day with the car, with the team."
Addressing the fan behaviour, he added: "I don't know what the Argentine fans did. Argentines are extremely passionate people and are always very tough on others. But they have to show respect, and that's what we all want."
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem also stepped in, reaffirming his stance against toxic online conduct — something he's heavily campaigned against recently.
"I stand in full support of Yuki Tsunoda and Franco Colapinto," he said, "and I thank them for speaking out against the growing issue of online abuse in motorsport."
