The sprint race was chaotic for Alpine, after an early collision between both of their drivers saw them condemned to a bottom half start for Sunday’s race.
Esteban Ocon collided with Fernando Alonso, causing the Spaniard to lose part of his front wing and have to make an unscheduled pit stop for repairs.
“I lost the front wing, thanks to our friend,” said Alonso on the team radio as tensions begin to boil over between the Alpine driver pairing, and he also suggested that he was excitably counting down the races until he departs the French team.
Ocon did not receive a penalty for the incident, much to the surprise of F1 fans on social media, who took to platforms such as Twitter so vent their frustrations, but as has been seen all too often this season, some took it way too far.
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Alpine have confirmed that they have so far received 882 toxic comments after the race and have described at least 162 of them as severely toxic.
The team have stated their disgust at such comments and have released the following statement against the toxicity.
“Whatever happens on track, there is absolutely no excuse for hateful comments, abuse or toxicity to be directed towards our drivers, team members, fans or indeed anybody online.
“Of all the comments that we received across out social media channels during and after today’s sprint qualifying, we received 882 toxic comments, 162 of which were severely toxic. This is wholly unacceptable.
“What we have seen today is, unfortunately, not an isolated incident. We continue to see hate and discrimination online, and as a team, we will not tolerate this.
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“We will take action against individuals or groups who produce or disseminate social media posts that contain or encourage online abuse of our drivers, team members and fans.”
Alpine will be relieved to hear that FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem will be announcing a new scheme designed to counter toxic abuse, in Abu Dhabi.
It is rumoured that the FIA will turn to artificial intelligence to moderate comments of social media, as the number to toxic comments and troll accounts in Formula 1 reaches and all time high.