Combating F1 online abuse the agenda as FIA and Elon Musk get together at 2023 F1 Miami GP

FIA has that they are doing everything possible to combat the online abuse F1 drivers and personnel face on social media. The sport's governing launched its dedicated research center into online hate last year, releasing a white paper entitled "A Strategic Response To Online Hate Speech In Sport."

Twitter's CEO Elon Musk was among the many high-profile celebrities to attend the F1 Miami GP 2023 last weekend. As per RacingNews365, FIA president Muhammed Ben Sulayem took to social media to welcome the Tesla co-founder. He said that he spoke with the American about tackling the issue of online hate on Twitter.

"Great to meet @elonmusk at the Miami GP and discuss our mutual efforts to combat online abuse."

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"I understand the point of view of everybody, but I'm not a big fan of those kinds of things just before the race" - Aston Martin F1 driver

Two-time world champion and Aston Martin F1 driver Fernando Alonso said that he's not a keen supporter of pre-race introductions that happened ahead of the Miami GP on Sunday.

In the post-race press conference, he said:

"I understand the point of view of everybody, but I'm not a big fan of those kinds of things just before the race. If we have to do it, I think we need to remove some of the other stuff we are doing like the parade lap or something like that, because it's really in the middle of the preparation with the engineers and the strategy meeting.

"And I disagree a little bit if we do it, we have to do it everywhere because I don't think that the Miami fans are better than the Italian fans in Imola or in Spain or in Mexico or in Japan. I think we need to make everyone with the same rules and the same show before the race.

Ferrari's Sergio Perez, though, added that he's fine with it, as it doesn't happen every time:

"I think as long as we don't do it on too many occasions, I think it's nice to do it once for the crowd, but we also have to be very respectful of the drivers, that we need our own time to get ready. It's just minutes before the race start, and I think as long as this doesn't happen very often, it's OK.

In a bid to make F1 more entertaining and accessible to the US market, the sport is open to becoming more commercial to invite more fans to the track and celebrate the sport.