“Ban them for life,” Sergio Perez urges FIA to take stern action against abusive fans

Another driver who has advocated for lifelong bans for supporters who have been found to have been abusive during race weekends is Sergio Perez. During the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, there were numerous allegations of improper fan behaviour, including sexual harassment, misogyny, racism, and homophobia among some of the attendees. Lando Norris thinks bans should be “for a while” rather than permanently, while Sebastian Vettel supports lifelong bans. Max Verstappen, Perez’s Red Bull teammate, expressed his disapproval in the media following the race but refrained from reiterating the point on social media in the days that followed.

Watch: F1 need to step in and REMOVE these from races…

The hate among the Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton fans has been growing ever since the 2021 season took place and ended. The entire season was full of controversies, and even the last race had enough of them, this led to the fans filling up with rage. Even though Verstappen and Hamilton himself do not share any kind of rivalry during the races or on screen, the fans are still out of control. The Red Bull Ring in Austria was completely filled up with the Dutchman’s fans, and the few Hamilton fans that were present there were harassed by them. 

Also read: “It was a shame we lost the podium,” Sergio Perez hopes to recover from his frustrating weekend at Paul Ricard

Many drivers including Sergio Perez call for a lifetime ban

While Norris and Perez have different opinions, there are a few other drivers who have called for a lifetime ban as well. Although the real life implication wouldn’t be too easy, it would be interesting to see what are the steps that would be taken. 

“Don’t welcome them again, because they don’t represent who we are as a sport, and they don’t share our values at all so… but at the same time we have great fans out there and with great values and I think a few fans shouldn’t be able to even embarrass our sport like that,” PlanetF1 quoted the Mexican.

Lewis Hamilton went into greater detail on the topic of fan abuse, stating it is a larger problem that needs to be resolved in society at large and that any offending views should not be given a platform.

Also read: Jack Nicholls compares Charles Leclerc’s “spinning from the lead of the race” to Vettel’s Hockenheim error in 2018

Also read: “It also happened with Lauda and Prost,” Piero Ferrari places reliance on Charles Leclerc despite his crash at the French GP

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