FIA president issues statement against online abuse as 4x F1 champion Alain Prost contemplates shutting off social media

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem has released a statement in support of 4x F1 champion Alain Prost after the Frenchman revealed that he has been receiving abuse online from fans. Prost was Brazilian legend Ayrton Senna's biggest rival and the pair were also teammates at McLaren in 1988 and 1989.

Prost and Senna gave fire to one of the most fierce and iconic rivalries in F1 history. But after competing fiercely for almost a decade, the two eventually reconciled before Prost ultimately retired in 1994.

Speaking recently, Prost explained that he is considering quitting social media as he cannot think about Senna too often without feeling a sense of sadness, but F1 fans keep reminding him about his old rival and friend. He also mentioned that these messages from fans sometimes also include abuse.

Now, the FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem has shared a statement via his instagram stories, showing support to Prost and outlining the objectives of the United Against Online Abuse campaign, founded by him. The statement read:

"I stand with former World Champion Alain Prost and was saddened to hear about the abuse he has faced on social media."

"I founded the United Against Online Abuse campaign to drive awareness and action, to combat this growing threat to our community, and to engage directly with social platforms to target the issue at its source. This coalition relies on the sporting community coming together and we must continue to unite in this fight."

Screen grab of Mohammed Ben Sulayem's instagram story [via instagram/@mohammed.ben.sulayem]

Since Senna's tragic death in the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994, Alain Prost has been an advocate of promoting driver safety in F1 in Senna's memory. The Frenchman has also previously mentioned that Senna's death had a profound affect on him.

Prost recently spoke about the new Senna documentary, which has been produced by Netflix, branding it as 'Bulls**t, bulls**t, complete bulls**t.' He said that the stories used in the show were completely made up and untrue.

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Alain Prost blasted 'fictionalized' Netflix documentary showcasing his legendary F1 rivalry with Ayrton Senna

F1 legends and rivals Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost at the Elf Master Karting in Paris - Source: Getty

Alain Prost dismissed the new Senna docu-series on Netflix, calling it almost completely fictionalized. The former F1 driver had previously mentioned that he was likely to be portayed as the villain as there is always a 'good guy' and a 'bad guy' in these kinds of documentaries.

Speaking to German outlet Motorsport-Total.com, Prost branded the series as 'complete bulls**t', and dismissed it's validity.

“[The series is] Bulls**t, bulls**t, complete bulls**t. Almost everything has been completely fictionalized. I don’t really want to talk about it anymore.” [via Planetf1.com]

The Prost-Senna rivalry first sparked during the 1988 season, wherein Senna was controversially deemed the world champion due to an FIA directive, even though Prost won more points.

Then the pair had two of the most controversial accidents in motorsports history in consecutive years. They collided at Suzuka in 1989, which subsequently led to Senna being disqualified and handing Prost the title. While in 1990, Senna deliberately crashed into Prost in Japan, securing his own championship.