Reshared Franco Colapinto post sparks online ‘backlash’

Christian Mansell has responded to backlash he encountered from a minority of Franco Colapinto fans after revealing his support for Jack Doohan at Alpine.

The Australian Formula 2 driver found himself on the receiving end of “backlash” against him, after he showed support for Jack Doohan’s maiden campaign in Formula 1.

Christian Mansell: The motorsport community ‘needs to do better’

With Alpine announcing Franco Colapinto as a reserve driver for the F1 2025 season, speculation has been rife that the Argentinean racing driver may replace Jack Doohan at some point during the year if Doohan fails to immediately impress his new team bosses.

Alpine, following negotiations with Williams, has secured Colapinto on what is understood to be a five-year deal, and will see him act as reserve driver for the immediate future.

Doohan made his debut in Formula 1 at the 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi, but is yet to begin his rookie season – the speculation around his seat serving as extra pressure for the young driver, rightly or wrongly.

Following the announcement of Colapinto at Alpine, UK publication Autosport shared a mock-up image of Colapinto dressed in Alpine overalls. With Sky F1 contributor Tommo re-sharing the post with the caption “Give Doohan a chance for f**k sake”, Mansell showed his support for Mansell by re-sharing it on his network.

This decision appears to have resulted in angry messages being sent by some of Colapinto’s fans, both to Mansell and Tommo, outlining their feelings regarding the show of support for Doohan. The Alpine race driver has also had to contend with angry messages on his own social media channels, with a small number of angry Colapinto fans subjecting the Australian to toxic negativity.

Mansell, experiencing some of the same following his show of support for his compatriot, took to X to share a message with his followers, saying, “I’ve been sitting on what to say about my recent repost that has seen some backlash.

“All I’ll say is that since when did it become a minefield to support a driver? As a community, we need to do better.

“Oh yeah, don’t call people slurs it’s a sign of low intelligence. You should be able to support whoever you please in a safe and harmless manner, and if you can’t just don’t say it publicly.”

More on F1 2025

? Explained: Who is Franco Colapinto? How the Williams reserve driver earned his F1 superlicence

? F1 2025 driver line-up: Who is confirmed for the 2025 grid?

Franco Colapinto support bears similarity to Agustin Canapino situation

The vocal minority of Colapinto’s fanbase showing such anger appears to have significant overlap with the problematic behaviour of some fans of his compatriot Agustin Canapino in IndyCar, whose career in the American series came to an end a few weeks prior to Colapinto’s arrival in F1.

Canapino was released from Juncos Hollinger Racing Team on August 7th, following issues that stemmed back to the Long Beach Grand Prix from 2023.

In that race, an incident between Canapino and Helio Castroneves saw Canapino’s teammate, Callum Ilott, singled out for vociferous online abuse, and even death threats, as his fanbase believed Ilott was to blame for triggering the incident.

At the time, IndyCar issued a statement decrying “disrespectful and inappropriate online abuse” by fans – a statement which was reposted by several IndyCar drivers.

Ilott and Canapino made contact at the Monterey Grand Prix at the end of the season, with the resulting firestorm of abuse resulting in Ilott taking his social media account private as Juncos Hollinger, an Argentinean-American team, released Ilott from their line-up.

Months later, Arrow McLaren driver Theo Pourchaire was also subjected to online hate and death threats after an incident with Canapino – not helped by Canapino himself re-sharing a post from an Argentinean broadcaster calling him “Callum Pourchaire” in a veiled jibe.

With McLaren in a strategic alliance with Juncos Hollinger, this partnership was severed following Canapino posting that he had been subjected to abuse and liking posts questioning the veracity of Pourchaire’s claims.

Canapino was pulled from his car at the Road America race, with Juncos Hollinger putting in Nolan Siegel in his place. The reason given was to protect Canapino’s mental and physical well-being, according to Brad Hollinger, who said his team was “saddened by the events that led to this scenario.”

While Canapino returned to the cockpit at Laguna Seca, his next handful of races resulted in nondescript results and, while his involvement in the online deluge of anger was not directly cited as a contributing factor in his dismissal, it’s widely believed to have been a contributing factor.

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