Social media abuse has become a recurring topic in F1, owing to a surge in unpleasant happenings on social media and trackside within the fanbase and the community. During the pressers ahead of the British GP and the French GP, abuse earned itself a significant portion of time and words throughout both conferences. The nearly complete takeover of the topic at the British GP happened as a result of Nelson Piquet’s racial slur pronounced while talking about Lewis Hamilton.
The amount of backlash and heat that the news acquired was enough to reduce the time for standard preview-related topics to just a few minutes, as most of the attention was drawn by the drivers’ stance against online abuse and racism in particular. The topic surfaced again earlier today at the FIA press conference at the French GP, following repeated acts of abuse amidst the fans who were on-site at the Austrian GP.
It has therefore become more and more necessary to emphasize the importance of keeping respectful tones on social media and trackside. A number of teams, including Mercedes a few days ago, have firmly listed a number of guidelines against any sort of online abuse on their social media platforms. However, the situation appears to be far from reaching a turning point. It is indeed sacrosanct to allow everyone to enjoy online interaction without being hurdled or crippled by hate and abuse.
F1 drivers have supported such cause during the FIA press conference.
Lewis Hamilton, who always stood up as an advocate for inclusion, was once again very vocal about the matter during today’s FIA Press Conference.
“We shouldn’t be saying this is F1’s problem. This is all of us, going back to Silverstone, voices that are not aligned with us who have undertones of discrimination, we should not be amplifying those voices“.
“F1 100% should continue to do more. We had the ‘We Race As One’ initiative. That was just a lip service. I know F1 is focused on doing more. But we can always do more. Everyone can do more. It is about accountability. Everyone should be pushing for diversity and inclusion“.
F1 will enforce security in spectator areas, facilitating the ejection of abusive fans and will provide access to an SOS phone line to report abuse.
Only time will tell whether this initiatives will prove to actually sort or at least mitigate the issue which, as Vettel stated, has been rooted in the sport for a long time but emerged in a more impactful way through social media thanks to a more sensitive and aware community.
Sergio Perez shared a different opinion: “They are not welcome here. We should ban them for life because they don’t share our values”.
“A few fans shouldn’t be able to embarrass our sport like that” he added“.
However, exclusion would not align with the inclusive campaigns launched and supported by F1. Therefore, it becomes extremely important to insert and analyse every declaration in its own context. The key, once again, lies in sheer education and the mutual respect of boundaries.
Autore: Beatrice Zamuner – @beafunoat
Foto: F1, Mercedes AMG F1
