Briatore issues stark warning to Argentines over threats to Gasly | OneFootball

Flavio Briatore came out to lay down the law for the Argentine public ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, after Pierre Gasly publicly revealed that his family was harassed on social media for not giving up his position to Franco Colapinto at the end of the Madrid GP.

“I’m saying this especially to Argentinians, because there are no problems with Italians or anyone else. If you want to support Franco, do it in a respectful and fair way. Not like what I’m seeing on social media,” Alpine’s executive advisor told ESPN.

The Italian went further and issued a blunt warning: “If this continues, there will come a point when Franco will stop talking to everyone. I see a lot of anger from the fans, over and over again, for no reason. If it keeps happening, we’ll stop giving interviews to Argentine television.”

Briatore also referred to the team dynamic and stressed that Colapinto and Gasly must focus on fighting against the rest of the grid: “We have to fight the others. We absolutely do not need fights between our drivers. We are here to fight together: the team and the two drivers. This is no longer acceptable.”

To close, Alpine’s advisor highlighted the Argentine’s current form: “You are lucky in Argentina to have a promising driver. Last year he was already very good, and this year he is much better. We need you to support him in the right way, with sportsmanship. Argentinians are welcome, but they must be respectful as well.”

Gasly confirmed that both he and his family received threats after the Madrid incident: “I find it a bit worrying for our sport. I know I’m exposed, it has always been that way. But getting to the point of receiving threats and attacks seems completely inappropriate to me, especially when it reaches family members, a girlfriend, etc.”

Colapinto also spoke out against those attacks: “A lot of people were sending him messages and, of course, that’s not right. It’s never nice to receive that kind of thing, especially when it happens to the team I race for. We are teammates and we are working toward the same goal: making Alpine better.”

This weekend, because of Remembrance Day being observed in Azerbaijan, qualifying will take place on Friday, September 25 (9:00 a.m. Argentina time), and the race will be moved up to Saturday, September 26 at 8:00 a.m., on the Baku street circuit where Colapinto scored his first points in the top tier of world motorsport.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.