Laura Winter has seen a steady rise in her popularity in the F1 sphere in the past few seasons. Besides being a revered F1 journalist, she came to prominence after she led F1 TV’s broadcast in tandem with Will Buxton since 2021.
Ahead of the 2025 season, she has even become the lead presenter for F1 TV after Buxton jumped ship to commentate on IndyCar. However, the kind of vile and hateful reactions she has received on social media despite being such a senior member of the F1’s official broadcasting crew is plainly disappointing.
While Winter is busy in preparations for the broadcast of the season-opening Australian GP this weekend, she took time to deactivate her X (formerly Twitter) account entirely. Her fans suspect that it was probably in response to a few hateful posts she came across.
“Very much done. I’ll be here [Instagram] and on TikTok (kinda),” she wrote in her Instagram story. While one may wonder why the 35-year-old took such an extreme step, the posts were targeting her credentials as an F1 journalist just because she was a female.
One of these posts by a user named ‘Correra’ was either deleted or taken down, while another post reflected the regressive mindset of some F1 fans online. The user was replying to one of Winter’s recent posts by bringing up her predictions for the 2024 season and questioning her acumen about the sport.
F1 TV lead presenter Laura Winter has deleted her X (formerly Twitter) account, presumably due to some hateful posts targeting her. pic.twitter.com/D22HX6ybgo
— Motorsport Fan (@F1IndyWEC) March 13, 2025
“What kind of garbage prediction is this? How can you put Hamilton ahead of Norris and Russell ahead of Piastri but in the constructors’ championship McLaren is ahead of Mercedes? Do you know how this sport works or is it in your workplace because of the gender quota?,” the X user wrote.
It was certainly not something a respected journalist like Winter would tolerate, given she has worked not just as a presenter in F1 but also in other sports such as rugby and cycling in the past decade.
On top of that, giving predictions for an upcoming season can often be a fun activity that every member of the F1 broadcasting crew does. But predictions can easily be wrong by some margin.
Even though the logic of the user’s question about Winter’s 2024 predictions was sound, her fans have rightly stated that there was no need to say that she doesn’t know the sport because she is a female. “Report this vile individual for their heinous abuse directed at Laura Winter – who does not deserve this at all.”
We, as an F1 fandom, should come together & report this vile individual for their heinous abuse directed at Laura Winter – who does not deserve this at all.
(If my Snyder fan followers & anyone else frankly help report them & this tweet of theirs, that would be great) https://t.co/9YF1GgchIa
— George_TeamLH (@George_Taylor94) March 11, 2025
Another fan hit back at the user named ‘Correra’ by stating, “You need to calm the f**k down and start respecting people, it’s just a prediction…”
You need to calm the fuck down and start respecting people, it’s just a prediction and she is more qualified than you will ever be in your dreams
— zxyejsl gssbfom (@Injailoutpronto) March 11, 2025
One fan rightly mentioned, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything.” Meanwhile, several others questioned why the user brought up the 2024 predictions now. “It’s from 2024 leave her alone”.
It is unlikely that Winter may return to X anytime soon. Given that she is now essaying Buxton’s role as the lead presenter for F1 TV, such responses toward her may become quite regular on social media. So, it is best that she stays off the platform, which has seen a lot of vitriol and negativity develop in the F1 community.
