Max Verstappen has hit out at online trolls after team-mate Chris Lulham was subjected to abuse following a costly mistake at last weekend's GT World Challenge Europe finale in Portimao.
Lulham, who races for the GT squad Verstappen founded, was handed a drive-through penalty after contact with Luca Stolz's Winward Mercedes during an inside overtake attempt.
The incident dropped the Team Verstappen Racing entry from podium contention to 24th place, and triggered a wave of personal attacks on Lulham across social media.
Verstappen, who hand-picked Lulham to make the step up from sim racing with Team Redline into real-world GT competition, addressed the abuse, initially via an online statement after the race, and again during his media duties ahead of this weekend's United States Grand Prix in Austin.
Asked whether more needed to be done about online abuse, or whether he felt nothing was being done, Verstappen did not hold back.
"No," he said, speaking to the media, including RacingNews365. "But that starts with the social media companies themselves, where you can make many troll accounts as well, with no real names or [IP] addresses attached, and people can say whatever they like online.
"For me personally, I don't care. If it targets me, they can all eff off.
"But when it's to one of my drivers who is young, and not used to this kind of pressure and attention, and when they start writing these kinds of things, it's quite extreme. That's why I felt the need to put that statement out.
"Of course, I've talked to him about it, and I've tried to make sure that he doesn't read about it too much."
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Verstappen - 'We all make mistakes'
The four-time champion went on to stress that he has no issue with the error itself, framing it as part of a learning curve for his young protégé.
"I know his character," said Verstappen. "He's quite relaxed, but it's still not nice and definitely not deserved because, first of all, he's just a great guy.
"Of course, he's learning. We're all learning. We all make mistakes. That's not a problem for me.
"He did such a great job all weekend, and then [he made] a tiny little misjudgment. Of course, it gave us a penalty, but there is no need to throw any hate towards him.
"That's why it was very important to make that statement."
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