Max Verstappen has turned his social media platform into a public argument against the people hiding behind troll accounts, after his GT World Challenge Europe teammate Chris Lulham was deluged with online abuse over a race-costing contact in Portugal.
The four-time Formula 1 world champion blamed the social media companies themselves for enabling anonymous accounts without real names or addresses attached, and told anyone directing abuse at him to “eff off.”
“For me personally, I don’t care, like, if it’s targeted at me, I mean, they can all eff off,” Verstappen said at the United States Grand Prix.
What happened at Portimao
The flashpoint came in the three-hour Endurance Cup finale at Portimao on Saturday, 17 October. Lulham, sharing the #3 Mercedes-AMG with Verstappen and Ben Barnicoat for Verstappen Racing, tangled with Luca Stolz while trying to pass the Winward Racing Mercedes for fifth at Turn 8.
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Stolz spun. The stewards handed Lulham’s car a drive-through penalty, wiping out the team’s shot at victory. Verstappen later climbed from 24th to finish ninth.
The on-track mistake drew the usual livestream pile-on, then followed Lulham onto Instagram and X.
Verstappen’s Instagram statement
The day after the race, Verstappen posted a lengthy message on Instagram defending the British driver.
“I also feel I need to speak up about the hate and harassment Chris has received after the race.”
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“Everyone can have their opinions about what happened on track, but these personal attacks are not okay.”
“Chris had a really strong stint, and mistakes can happen.”
“There’s no place for this kind of abuse in our sport or anywhere else.”
Barnicoat posted his own message defending Lulham on the same day, standing by his co-driver.
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‘That starts already with the social media companies’
Pressed on the issue at the US Grand Prix, Verstappen widened the target to the platforms themselves.
“No, but that starts already with the social media companies themselves, where you can make as many troll accounts as well, with no real names or addresses attached to them,” he said.
He drew a line between abuse aimed at him and abuse aimed at a younger driver without the armor to absorb it.
“But when it’s to one of my drivers who is young and is not used to this kind of pressure and attention, when they start writing these kinds of things, it’s quite extreme, and that’s why I felt the need to put that statement out.”
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“He’s, of course, learning. We’re all learning. We all make mistakes.”
“There is no need to throw any kind of hate towards him.”
Lulham came up through sim racing and had worked with Verstappen before the Portimao weekend, which was his first race for the Verstappen Racing lineup in the Endurance Cup finale.
Franco Colapinto, who has spoken publicly about receiving abuse himself, welcomed the intervention from the sport’s biggest active star.
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“You saw with Max as well, he made a statement about it,” Colapinto said.
“It’s happening a lot around, and there is an issue that in sports we’ve got nowadays.”
Verstappen is in Austin for this weekend’s United States Grand Prix, where the race runs on Sunday, 25 October.
