- Formula 1 drivers Kimi Antonelli, Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon and Franco Colapinto joined H.E. Mohammed Ben Sulayem, and the motorsport community, at the British Grand Prix to deliver a unified message: online abuse has no place in sport.
- The first United Against Online Abuse Day, taking place on 7 July, is a global moment of awareness and action, bringing the sporting community together to challenge online abuse, promote respect, and encourage everyone to play their part in creating safer digital spaces.
The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the global governing body for motor sport and the federation for mobility organisations worldwide has today held the inaugural United Against Online Abuse Day, bringing together the global motorsport community to tackle online abuse in sport.
“Online abuse has no place in sport” was the unified message delivered by the motorsport community at the FIA Formula 1 British Grand Prix ahead of the inaugural United Against Online Abuse (UAOA) Day.
President of the FIA and UAOA Founder, H.E. Mohammed Ben Sulayem, was joined in marking the occasion alongside Formula 1 drivers Kimi Antonelli, Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon, Franco Colapinto, and McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown.
While well-known broadcasters Natalie Pinkham, Mariana Becker, content creator Toni Cowan-Brown, Formula 3 driver Yevan David, and FIA F1 Safety Car Driver Bernd Mayländer, demonstrated the impact of online abuse on the entire motorsport community.
President of the FIA, H.E. Mohammed Ben Sulayem, declared: “Online abuse undermines our competitions and endangers our athletes, officials, and fans. It erodes the very spirit of sport. But together, we can change that.”
Following a growing number of high-profile incidents of online abuse against drivers in Formula 1, Kimi Antonelli recalled: “Even if we’re professional athletes, we’re still humans. It doesn’t mean because we’re public figures, that we deserve online abuse.”
Fernando Alonso reaffirmed their commitment to tackling the issue stating: “It doesn’t matter if you’re in a different team or you support different colours, all of them deserve respect. Together, we can make the sport and the world a better place. We need to work all together on this.”
Having recently experienced online abuse following the Japanese Grand Prix; Esteban Ocon emphasised the importance of combatting online abuse in sport: “If you start accepting that [online abuse], you accept that this is reality, this is normality, and that is not the case.”
The UAOA Day campaign was prominent at the British Grand Prix, from interview backdrops to parc fermé and fan engagement activations, UAOA branding served as a visible reminder that online abuse affects everyone, and everyone has a role to play in challenging harmful behaviour.
Sky Sports UK TV Presenter Natalie Pinkham urged the whole community to: “Be disruptive in this space, don’t be afraid to call stuff out, like if it doesn’t feel right when you read it, call it out.”
Zak Brown echoed the call for collective action: “I think a great way for the fans and the community to get involved is to stand up for it as well. The more positive news we get, the more that will bury those that are spreading hate.”
Learn more and access the UAOA Day assets at: https://unitedagainstonlineabuse.com/uaoa-day/
#UAOADay #UnitedAgainstOnlineAbuse #WordsMatterInSport #SafeSport #DigitalSafety
Note to Readers:
Following 7 July, two interviews will be released each day, featuring key voices across the global motorsport community discussing online abuse, what the issue means to them, why it is important to take action, and how everyone can get involved. The interviews will be published on the UAOA LinkedIn Channel, FIA Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.
