Max Verstappen has slammed social media’s ‘Keyboard warriors’ for propagating hateful and toxic culture between fan groups. The Dutchman believes there should be no room for such individuals who cause harm to everyone’s mental health.
The 2-time World Champion found himself in hot water after the controversy surrounding his Sky Sports snub. He cited Sky journalist Ted Kravitz’s constant remarks on Lewis Hamilton being ‘robbed’ of the 2021 title which Max won.
For the avoidance of doubt my friend and colleague for the past 26 years @tedkravitz has my full support. Face to face dialogue is the only way to sort out issues and disputes in the relentless crucible of the F1 paddock. We all have opinions and different jobs to do, that’s life
— Martin Brundle (@MBrundleF1) November 1, 2022
Max feels the growth of F1 across the world has amplified the toxic social media culture. And Dutchman claims platforms “can come up with a kind of algorithm that stops people from being keyboard warriors.”
Max Verstappen calls for an algorithm to block ‘Keyboard warriors’
Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton’s fan groups have been pitted against one another since the 2021 season. The rivalry between the two has added fuel to the fire.
Max claims many such individuals make matters worse for everyone. He claims, “These kinds of people will never come up to you and say these things in front of your face.
Max continued, “They’re sitting in front of their desk or whatever at home, being upset, being frustrated, and they can write whatever they like because the platform allows them to.”
max explains why he won’t be giving interviews to sky sports:
“social media is a very toxic place and if you are constantly being like that live on tv you make it only worse” pic.twitter.com/tHgcL8coVs
— rach | max 🏆🏆 (@redbulIrach) October 31, 2022
The constant attacks faced by drivers, team personnel and their families on social media hurt their mental health. “That can be really damaging and hurtful to some people, and it’s not how it should be.”
Adrian Newey’s wife criticises British Journalist for polarising article
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner claimed Red Bull employees and their family members after the Budget Cap news broke. In Austin, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez heckled with chants calling them ‘Cheaters.’
British journalist Matthew Syed responded with an article recently on Horner’s dismissal of the Budget cap infringement. He claimed that Horner has been using the excuse of Mental health only when it benefits him.
Syed wrote in his article, “Christian Horner is tarnishing F1. Red Bull broke the rules but Horner says the criticism is affecting the mental health of the team. This is a blatant deflection technique but also trivialises the difficulties of people with real mental health problems”
To everyone who helped force Amanda Newey to delete her response, have shame
With the harassment here, you have all managed to prove her point in its entirety
We must do better as a community to be open minded and not act this disgraceful towards relatives of F1 team personnel pic.twitter.com/Nu3qKhTpVM
— Matt 🇺🇸 | 🇧🇷BRAZIL🇧🇷 (@formulamatt3316) November 2, 2022
To which Red Bull Technical head Adrian Newey’s wife responded. She claimed Syed had no authority to talk about mental health while abuses have been hurled at Red Bull employees for over a year.
Amanda’s tweet has since been deleted but has brought to attention the serious matter of toxic media culture in F1. Even Lewis Hamilton claims the platforms aren’t fun and engaging anymore.
Also Read: Lewis Hamilton urges fans to get off Twitter to protect their mental health
