George Russell opens up on ‘merciless’ social media negativity

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George Russell has hit out at the ‘merciless’ negativity that athletes can be subjected to over social media.

The British driver won this years Austrian Grand Prix after a late collision between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, enabling him to come through from third to take the victory.

Earlier in the season he recieved criticism for claiming that Fernando Alonso had brake tested him in the closing stages of the Australian GP, after he lost control of his Mercedes chasing him for sixth place.

The Briton has opened up about some of the negativity he sometimes receives on social media when speaking to NL motorsport.com.

George Russell opens up about social media abuse

Russell is one of the most active drivers on social media having garnered over six million followers on Instagram and two million followers on X (formerly known as Twitter).

When speaking about the abuse, Russell claimed that he turned off notifications for his Instagram page after being the subject of abuse from fans of his teammate Lewis Hamilton in the aftermath of Spanish Grand Prix.

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“The first reaction you see is always negative. For example, Instagram shows the most liked comments. It doesn’t matter what it’s about, but about 50 per cent of those reactions are negative,” said Russell.

“I can hardly understand that. You can already see people in the spotlight – actors, musicians and footballers – getting off socials because of mental problems,” Russell says. “If you’re not in such a situation yourself, you don’t know how merciless negativity can be.”

FIA reacts to online abuse

F1’s governing body, the FIA, has reacted to online abuse having conducted a recent study that found 75% of the respondents reported that competitors regularly face threats of harm against themselves or families.

Three-quarters of the federations said that sports stars regularly face threats of harm with 90% saying that it is likely to lead to them quitting their sport.

In September 2023, the FIA launched a “United Against Abuse” campaign website, which aims to serve as a way to combat hate speech and online harassment.

It came after Nicholas Latifi was subjected to death threats following his crash at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which set off a series of controversial events that altered the outcome of the Drivers’ Championship that year.