The world press is loud from the fans of the Austrian Grand Prix
After the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix, something happened that has probably never happened before: there were almost more articles, posts and Tweets about the fans than about the race.
In advance, shocking stories were published on Twitter from fans who had been at the venue, in which they described the general conditions there and the atrocities committed against not only one person.
These events pretty much overshadowed the rest of the weekend. More and more wild and incredible crimes could be heard. Complaints were received - mostly about Dutch fans - who made homophobic, racist or defamatory comments. In addition, according to reports, some women were victims of sexual abuse in or around the track. Several young women received whistles, catcalls and sexually explicit comments. Some people reported being physically abused simply because they supported someone other than the perpetrator.
The stories quickly traveled the world and even reached Formula 1. One by one, everyone condemned what happened and expressed strong criticism.
Toto Wolff said: “Whoever reads my sentence: stay away. We don’t want you. If you’re part of that group, f*** off.”
“Whoever these people are, they should be ashamed of themselves and they should be banned from racing events for their lives,” said Sebastian Vettel. “I think there should be zero tolerance. If people have a good time and drink too much that’s OK, but it doesn’t justify or excuse wrong behaviour.”
Teams and fans alike agree that F1 must do something to ensure this never happens again. Max Verstappen’s point of view is that the security service should be strengthened and the consumption of alcohol should be restricted much more strongly, as the complaints were mostly about drunken fans who committed the atrocities against them.