FIA to launch new campaign: "If this continues it will destroy our sport"

Mohammed Ben Sulayem has spoken out against online abuse. The FIA president believes everyone should unite to take action against the growing toxicity, which FIA employees are also increasingly falling victim to.

In a column for Autosport.com Sulayem writes that online abuse has "become a blight on the sport" and that the level of toxicity has reached a crisis point. Therefore, the FIA president believes it is time for action to be taken and he believes everyone should do their bit.

As an example, he cites FIA steward Silvia Bellot, who received death threats after the controversial decision to give Fernando Alonso a 30-second time penalty at the US Grand Prix. The penalty was reversed after protests from Alpine. According to Sulayem, several FIA employees have been targets of online hatred and harassment in recent years.

The FIA president called it "totally unacceptable" for volunteers, officials and employees of the governing body to be subjected to such abuse and feared that if it continues like this, no one will want to hold a top position within the FIA. "If this continues it will destroy our sport," argues Sulayem, who believes that everyone in the sport has a role to play in fighting online abuse. That means the teams and drivers, but also the media and fans.

A campaign will be launched in the coming months, building on the cooperation between the FIA and Formula 1 through the Drive It Out initiative, in which F1 has previously spoken out against all forms of hate and abuse. At the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the FIA president will elaborate further on the new campaign. "I urge the entire motorsport ecosystem to take a stand. We must call it out. It has to stop," Sulayem said.