Former Formula One driver and Sky Sports pundit Johnny Herbert has revealed that he received death threats after being part of the stewarding panel that penalized Fernando Alonso at the Australian Grand Prix.
Alonso was found guilty of contributing to George Russell’s dramatic last-lap crash, despite his Aston Martin vehicle not actually making contact with the Mercedes.
Herbert, 59, was part of the decision to hand Alonso a 20-second penalty, which saw him drop a place to eighth behind Yuki Tsunoda.
Herbert said that he received a torrent of death threats via social media in the aftermath of the race, with many of the messages coming from fans of Alonso.
He also believes that some of the anger directed at him stems from a confrontation he had with Alonso while he was still working for Sky two years ago.
Herbert has called for social media platforms to do more to combat online abuse, saying that they should be held accountable for allowing it to happen.
“The threats lasted for two weeks and still are coming,” Herbert said. “It is part of the social media world where everyone has an opinion but don’t have the facts to back it up. It happens too much now. Athletes, officials in many sports get bombarded with death threats.
“Those platforms should be on top of it. But they are not. They allow it to happen. I don’t understand why. They should take action. But they say they cannot find a way of stopping it. I don’t believe that.”
The FIA has since released a statement condemning the threats made against Herbert, and said that it is working with social media companies to identify and punish those responsible.
Alonso has also apologized for the threats made against Herbert, and said that he does not condone such behavior.
“I am very sorry to hear that Johnny Herbert has been subjected to death threats,” Alonso said. “I do not condone such behavior and I hope that the FIA will take appropriate action against those responsible.”
The incident has highlighted the growing problem of online abuse in sport, and has led to calls for social media companies to do more to protect their users from harm.
