Ahead of this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Max Verstappen has publicly hit out at media trolls who have been targeting the Dutchman’s family, following his team order defiance at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The build-up to the season finale has been largely about Verstappen and Sergio Pérez, regarding their controversial incident at Interlagos last weekend.
After being allowed to overtake Pérez in the closing laps, Verstappen was told that unless he could overtake either Fernando Alonso or Charles Leclerc, then he’d need to return the position.
The double World Champion failed to do either thing, resulting in an onslaught of criticism towards Verstappen as a result.
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Checo fans have been seen burning merchandise and announcing their disrespect for Verstappen, with the Mexican now level on points with Leclerc following Verstappen defying team orders.
The criticism and online comments have once again, though, become too much, with the vast majority having been targeted towards Verstappen’s family rather than the driver himself.
Prior to the season finale, Verstappen slammed those being “pretty disgusting” towards his family, with the 25-year-old admitting that the online abuse has gone “way too far”.
“All the things that I have read are pretty disgusting,” said Verstappen in the pre-weekend press conference.
“After the last race, I looked very bad in the media, but they didn’t have the clear picture.
“To immediately put me down like that is ridiculous. Even more than that, they started attacking my family, my sister, my mum, my girlfriend and my dad. When your own sister writes to you that it is getting way too much, that says enough. It gets to me because you cannot attack my family.
“For me, that goes way too far when you don’t even have the facts of what actually was going on. And that definitely has to stop. If you have a problem with me, that is fine, but don’t go after my family because that is just unacceptable.”
The Dutchman told his team that he had his “reasons” for not giving the position back, with there being speculation that Pérez crashed on purpose during Q3 at the Monaco Grand Prix to stop Verstappen claiming pole.
It’s not the first time this season that Verstappen has faced online abuse, something that has been an unwelcomed trend of 2022.
Verstappen is tired of the “bulls***” that is being said, after stating that he hasn’t done “anything wrong”.
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“I am just a bit fed up with all this bulls***,” added Verstappen.
“As soon as there is something negative, it needs to be highlighted.
“It is pretty sickening to be a part of all that when, at the end of the day, I haven’t even done anything wrong.”