Pierre Gasly received 13,000 death threats as a result of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, according to FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

The Alpine driver appeared to briefly delay his team mate Franco Colapinto on lap 54 of the race. Ben Sulayem condemned the abuse at the time and revealed the scale of it in an interview for The Drive.

“Pierre Gasly had 13,000 threats on his life,” he said, “13,000!”

The FIA also revealed members of its stewarding team had suffered abuse online. “We had a woman steward who was threatened to be killed and raped, so she said, ‘it’s not worth it,” he said. “These are volunteers.”

Alpine has also condemned the abuse of its drivers on social media. Earlier this month Colapinto urged his supporters to stop abusing his rivals.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and

Browse all Formula 1 articles