The Alpine team’s press department had their hands full in Sao Paulo on Saturday evening. Not only because Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon flew to shreds after colliding twice on the race track. But also because the controversial events on the team’s social media channels caused heated discussions.
Some users may have got the wrong tone, because the Alpine PR department is now responding with a statement on social media. It states: “Whatever happens on the track, there is absolutely no justification for hateful comments, abuse or hate speech towards our drivers, team members, fans or anyone else on the internet.”
“Of the comments we received on our social media channels during and after today’s sprint qualifying, 882 were inflammatory, of which 162 were extremely inflammatory. That is totally unacceptable.”
“What we saw today is, unfortunately, not an isolated case. We constantly register hate and discrimination on the internet and as a team we will not tolerate it.”
And the French racing team announces: “We will take action against people or groups who produce or distribute social media posts that call for hate speech against our drivers, our team members and our fans.”
The FIA and Formula 1 recently announced in separate statements that they intend to use artificial intelligence to combat hate on the Internet in the future – a problem that has dramatically increased in recent years.
Defiant: Alonso has already finished with Alpine
But it is also true that the house blessing at Alpine is crooked. In view of the fact that Ocon (17th) and Alonso (18th) are starting next to each other again in the main race, team boss Otmar Szafnauer can’t really have slept peacefully. He had publicly reprimanded his two drivers on Saturday evening.
Alonso in particular was not in the mood to be Ocon’s teammate anymore. Although he smiled in the TV interviews after the F1 sprint, between the lines he let what he really thinks of the French ring through: namely nothing.
“One more race, then it’s over. Finally,” says Alonso. “I was pretty close to the wall in Jeddah, in Budapest too. Today in turn 4, later at the start and finish. That’s how it seems.”
“Sometimes it’s quite competitive in the team. It’s not happening to him for the first time. I remember his duels with Perez, or here with Verstappen when he rounded himself back. As I said: It’s just one more race,” he said the 41-year-old, who will join Aston Martin in 2023.