Online abuse following GT3 race: Max Verstappen defends his team-mate

Just as he had done at the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring, Max Verstappen’s participation in the GT World Challenge finale in Portimão caused quite a stir and generated a great deal of interest amongst fans. The Dutchman from the Red Bull Racing Team lived up to expectations and put in a strong performance in the race, despite qualifying not having gone to plan.

The Formula 1 star had to work his way up from 24th on the grid and eventually crossed the line in ninth place, having overtaken, amongst others, Charles Leclerc’s brother Arthur. Afterwards, he expressed his satisfaction with his performance.

The fact that he didn’t finish higher up the order was also down to a drive-through penalty incurred by his team-mate Chris Lulham for a collision with the number 48 Mercedes. This set Lulham, Verstappen and Ben Barnicoat – who were sharing the Mercedes-AMG GT3 with start number 3 – well back in the field.

Max Verstappen makes it clear: there is no place for online hate in motorsport

After the race, Lulham faced a barrage of criticism. The 23-year-old Briton was confronted with hateful messages online, and Verstappen responded to this on social media. The four-time Formula 1 world champion stated on Instagram: “It was an exciting weekend! I was very happy to compete in our GT3 racer at Portimão. There were a few ups and downs, but as a team we learnt a lot.”

“I also feel it’s necessary to speak out about the hate and attacks Chris was subjected to after the race. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion about what happened on the track, but these personal attacks are not on. Chris put in a really strong stint, and mistakes can happen. There is no place for this sort of attack in our sport – or anywhere else,” the 73-time Grand Prix winner went on to make clear.

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