The popularity of F1 has picked up worldwide in the last few years. With that came new fans and with new fans came new perceptions and opinions. Opinions that can be polarizing and start debates online. Such debates often turn abusive with drivers and the teams bearing the brunt of them. This undoubtedly takes a toll on their mental health and reigning champion Max Verstappen is strictly against it. Acting on it now, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem met with Elon Musk to discuss what can be done to address the issue on Twitter.

Even before Verstappen, other champions, including Lewis Hamilton, and Sebastian Vettel, have gone through the same. Vettel once talked about how fans often turn against the champion drivers as their dominance makes the sport “boring”. F1 commentator Martin Brundle explained why that happens after the crowd in Abu Dhabi booed Max after he won the Grand Prix.

FIA president meets Elon Musk to chalk out a way to stop online abuse

Verstappen infamously refused to obey team orders in Brazil last year and did not let Sergio Perez pass. This was after all the sacrifices he had made for the Dutchman previously. That did not go down well with a section of fans who went overboard with their criticism.

Speaking ahead of the finale in Abu Dhabi, Verstappen said, “To immediately put me down like that is ridiculous to be honest, because they don’t know how I work within the team and what the team appreciates about me.”

“So all the things I’ve read are pretty disgusting.”

Musk, the $178 billion worth (as per Forbes’ real-time tracker) owner of Twitter, just like many celebrities, was there to enjoy the Miami GP recently. That was when Ben Sulayem held a meeting with him and discussed ways to tackle the abuse on his social media platform.

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No wonder Max keeps himself as far from social media as much as he can. In fact, he has successfully converted his girlfriend, Kelly Piquet with him.

“Some people have nothing else to do”: when Max Verstappen slammed toxic social media users

Max has often spoken against the excessive use of social media. In fact, in an interview last year, he revealed that Kelly’s social media footprint has decreased significantly over some time. During the interview, he also took a jibe at people who are forever on the platforms and have no other task to do.

“I don’t feel the need to share or show my private life to the outside world, even Kelly does it much less than before. When Formula 1 ends, I don’t see myself posting things,”  he told the Dutch newspaper De Limburger. [Translated using Google]

“Some people have nothing else to do all day, while I’m busy with other things. For example, I spend a lot of time on the phone, especially with my sim team, doing things with virtual racing or so on.”

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Given how Musk is handling the state of affairs since taking over Twitter, do you think he will take any steps to tackle online hate?