Haas driver Esteban Ocon wants to see “big consequences” for the fans who sent him death threats following his collision with Franco Colapinto at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Ocon took the blame for the collision with the Argentine driver, who still went on to record a top-10 finish.
Ocon was also handed a penalty for the clash, which he accepted was fair.
In the aftermath, the Frenchman was bombarded with abuse and death threats online, which Ocon revealed prompted a letter of support from FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
“Obviously there’s been a lot going on, to be honest I didn’t pay too much attention to it, but I’ve seen what was going on online,” Ocon said on Thursday.
“The important thing for me was really to speak with Franco directly to really tell him what I thought and that I was sorry about the incident because it was my fault on that one. And we had a good chat, everything was OK between us of course and I’m glad that he had a good race nevertheless and he still managed to score points, which was good.
“But, yes, for sure any kind of abuse online that we saw, it should not be tolerated at all and it should have big consequences, it should not have any place in sport or in our sport in general. But you know that’s keyboard warriors, that’s how they are, so I think in the future it’s going to become more of a thing and there probably will be more consequences for these people.”
He then confirmed: “The FIA, so the president sent me a letter, you know afterwards, so yeah it’s been there’s been a talk.”
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Ben Sulayem launched United Against Online Abuse (UAOA) after an FIA steward received death threats following the 2022 U.S. Grand Prix.
UAOA wants to “unite the sporting, political and regulatory sectors against the rising levels of online abuse and hate speech impacting various sports across the world.”
Ocon’s boss, Aayo Komatsu, praised his driver for how quickly he held his hands up and admitted fault over the initial clash.
“I think Esteban straight away accepted that was his mistake, and that was, I think, very, very good,” Komatsu said. “He said it straight away in the car, straight away I think after the race, and he spoke to Franco. So I think from our side, Esteban was 100% spot-on. That’s how I’d like to see our drivers behave. I’m very proud actually of Esteban, how he’s been behaving.”
