Pierre Gasly reveals “disturbing” abuse towards his family by Franco Colapinto fans

Pierre Gasly says he and his family have received “disturbing” abuse from fans following an incident between himself and Alpine Formula 1 team-mate Franco Colapinto in Madrid.

A contra-strategy for the French driver meant he ran long during the Spanish Grand Prix at Madrid two weeks ago.

This led to a tense moment later in the Spanish Grand Prix, as a slower Pierre Gasly was quickly caught by Franco Colapinto, who was being hounded by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.

Colapinto finished the race in seventh.

“Disturbing for our sport”

But this incident led to a negative social media reaction from Colapinto fans, with Gasly and his family on the end of “disturbing” abuse.

Speaking on Thursday ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Gasly said, as reported by The Race: “Personally, I find it a little bit disturbing for our sport.

“I’m a top athlete, so I know I’m exposed; it’s always been the case. But the extent of the threats, attacks, I find completely inapporpriate, especially when it reaches out to family members, girlfriend, etc.

“I don’t think that should be the case.

“Things were not that way in the past, and as a sport we just need to find a way to make it a healthier place because you’re exposed, you know you are going to be attacked.

“You can be liked, disliked; it’s completely fine.

“But there is a certain line that should not be crossed just because you’re behind a screen and a keyboard, and these lines are crossed too many times.”

Colapinto responds, but steers clear of criticising fan response

“Hopefully, they can stop it,” he said.

“The same happened to other drivers, Yuki [Tsunoda] last year, it was quite bad as well at one point; I talked about it.

“The stewards, after Zandvoort, I went to see them as well. They had some abuse after the penalty they gave me.

“It happens a lot with fans in Formula 1, in any sport nowadays - it’s something very common.

“Unfortunately, that shouldn’t be common. Definitely, we should be taking more care about things, the words that come out of the keyboards of everyone.”

Social media abuse from Colapinto fans has been a widespread problem this season.

Esteban Ocon was sent death threats by fans of the Argentine driver after a collision at the Chinese Grand Prix.

The FIA also condemned comments made by Colapinto sponsor, Mercado Libre, after he was given a penalty at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Colapinto hasn’t been unscathed by online controversies, however, with Haas having to issue a statement after a collision in Japan with Ollie Bearman led to the Alpine driver receiving online abuse.