Colapinto says he also receives social media abuse after Baku pile-up fallout

Franco Colapinto used his pre-race media duties at the Malaysian Grand Prix on Thursday to highlight that he, too, is a target of social media abuse — not just the drivers his Baku incident affected — following the Turn 1 pile-up at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last weekend.

The Alpine driver locked up from deep on a safety car restart, colliding with team-mate Pierre Gasly and McLaren’s Lando Norris. The crash prompted an angry Norris to call, before he had seen a replay, for race bans to be issued when drivers cause similar incidents. That comment in turn triggered a wave of online abuse directed at the reigning world champion, largely from Colapinto’s Argentine fanbase — a pattern Alpine have now condemned publicly for the fourth time since the 23-year-old joined the team at the start of 2025.

But speaking at Sepang, Colapinto pushed back on the idea that the abuse flows only in one direction. “I get loads of it. No one ever talks about it,” he said. “It’s not easy for us when we get these kind of things. It doesn’t come only from Argentinians — it comes from all over the world and from many other fanbases.”

Colapinto said he is largely insulated because he limits his time on social media, but acknowledged the broader harm the issue causes across sport. “I know it affects a lot of people and a lot of drivers and a lot of athletes more than me,” he added. “I hope that they improve. I’ve been asking it for a long time.”

The Argentine driver argued that the sport’s participants need to take collective responsibility, while also acknowledging the limits of what individual drivers can do. “We are really struggling to improve the situation by ourselves, because we tried,” he said. “It’s been since last year that I’ve been talking about it. I am doing my best, but it’s tricky to change.”

Norris subsequently apologised for his initial comments made in the heat of the moment after the Baku race, and Colapinto was measured in his response to that, suggesting the McLaren driver had spoken without the benefit of seeing the replay first.