After a particularly controversial 2021 Formula 1 season, in which the followers of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen clashed on social networks over the incidents of their idols on the track, hatred towards the drivers became one of the main topics of conversation .
Latifi received death threats and insults after his crash in Abu Dhabi forced out the safety car that turned the title battle around, a line of fire that Norris also claims to have been in at one point.
The English rider said he has learned that the best way to deal with social media trolls is to laugh at them, but he believes the dark side of social media is an issue that needs to be addressed.
“It’s something I’ve learned in my first three seasons in F1, where I’ve seen that there are people who are all they want to do with their lives, and they have nothing better to do than attack people,” said Lando Norris.
“I hate to see it. Does it affect me? To a small extent yes, but nothing more than that.”
“For my part, now it’s more fun for me and I take it as a laugh and a joke, instead of taking it personally, since nothing can be done.”
“You have to focus on your own work, your laps, whatever. And if it’s not in your hands, there’s no reason to blame you.”
“Hopefully that can change and to some extent you have to worry less about what people say and get on with things.”
“Hopefully that can improve. We as a team and Formula 1 are putting a lot of effort into these kinds of things to improve and leave those kinds of people behind,” the McLaren man continued.
Latifi revealed on Tuesday that he hired private security as a result of the death threats he received after the Abu Dhabi GP . The Canadian driver’s team manager, Jost Capito , said no one should have had to put up with what the youngster went through after the accident in that race.
“What happened to him is completely unacceptable,” Capito said.
“And it’s hard to give more than mental support, isn’t it? We support him in the sense that he is convinced that he didn’t do anything wrong, and that the team doesn’t blame him for any mistakes, any mistakes or anything.”
“I was racing and in racing some things can happen. If you’re fighting for position that can happen.”
“He left social media for a while and we didn’t pressure him with social media to take a break from this. Then you saw the text he posted when he came back.”
“And I think that was very useful, not just for him, but for everyone in F1 or even beyond the sport, and that made him stronger.”
