30 seconds let the hatred on the net escalate again. The two-time Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso was given exactly this time penalty at the US Grand Prix at the end of October for driving an unsafe car. As a result, online aggression erupted – especially against Silvia Bellot.
The Spaniard has been the race commissioner for the international automobile association Fia since 2011. In 2020, she also rose to become the first race director in the male domain, with stints in Formula 2 and Formula 3. The Catalan is also an ambassador for the Fia Commission for Women in Motorsport.
But what the respected Bellot decided with rule-keeper colleagues in Austin should have personal consequences for her – even if the penalty was later canceled after a protest from Alonso’s Alpine racing team.
“plague for our sport”
The President of the World Automobile Federation, Mohammed ben Sulayem, spoke of death threats in the specific case and denounced hate on the Internet in an open letter. This had become “a plague for our sport”. “The extent of the ongoing poisoning has reached a dramatic level. It is time that we all unite – and act.”
Before Bellot, there were already numerous victims of digital violence in the premier class of motorsport. Williams driver Nicholas Latifi received death threats after Lewis Hamilton’s controversial World Cup defeat in 2021 by Max Verstappen. Latifi’s crash caused the safety car phase, at the end of which Verstappen overtook Hamilton for the world title after a questionable decision by the race management.
Or the case of Hannah Schmitz. Fueled by conspiracy theories on the net after Verstappen’s home win in Zandvoort this year, the Red Bull chief strategist was also bombarded with hate speech.
Association chief: “Absolutely unacceptable”
For ben Sulayem, however, the Bellot personnel is now a reason to want to put a stop sign. It was “absolutely unacceptable” that volunteers, officials and employees are “exposed to this extreme abuse,” wrote the head of the association before the Brazilian Grand Prix. “It has no place in our sport. It has a devastating impact on our mental health and that of our loved ones.”
Record world champion Hamilton has around 30.4 million followers on Instagram and around 7.8 million on Twitter. As the only black driver, he knows about the danger of discrimination – not least on the Internet. “Social media is becoming more and more toxic as the years go by and I think we should all finally move on from that,” he said in the mental health debate. “So many people are reading the comments and the stuff people are saying and it’s hurtful.”
Hamilton advised not to read this stuff himself. The Mercedes driver has an agency that takes care of his online presence. But he said the platforms needed to do more “to protect people, especially young children and women, but right now they’re not doing that.”
Approached social media platforms
The World Automobile Association has therefore approached social media platforms and is trying to persuade them to take binding action against digital violence. The Fia is also working with a company that uses artificial intelligence to identify and eliminate “abusive content” on Formula 1 channels.
Formula 1 is fighting a phenomenon that the rest of society is also dealing with. The Netflix documentary “Drive to Survive”, for example, has opened up younger target groups for the top motorsport class. But she could also have caused the “emotions to overturn”, as ben Sulayem put it. That would be one approach.
In the face of digital violence, world champion Verstappen speaks of the “keyboard warrior” who would “never say malice and hatred to your face”. “But they sit at home in front of their computers, angry and frustrated, and they can write whatever they want.”
Harassment, abuse and hate speech on the Internet “must not be tolerated,” said ben Sulayem, who is planning a campaign against online hate speech over the next few months. He wants to report more details at the season finale in Abu Dhabi. “We have to denounce it,” emphasized ben Sulayem. “It has to stop.”