Ryan Wood, one of the most promising drivers in the Supercars series, is currently facing a lot of criticism. This comes after he spun the car of Broc Feeney, whose championship dreams were crushed in the Adelaide Supercars finale. For the 21-year-old, this hate is already a lot to take. But as the comment flow just isn’t stopping and crossing its limit, Supercars CEO James Warburton released a strong statement regarding the strict policy for “personal abuse.”

Supercars says no to personal abuse

Broc Feeney entered the race in Adelaide as the pole-sitter and as a championship leader, dominating throughout the season. But as he entered the final race at the bp Adelaide Grand Final, Ryan Wood’s car spun him around in the first lap itself. 

Owing to the nature of the contact, Wood was penalized. But the problem was the social media hate. As the criticism went overboard and personal towards Wood, Supercars CEO James Warburton didn’t keep quiet and released a stern statement.

“We love our fans and know you’re the most passionate of any sport,” Warburton wrote. “We love what the stars of our sport do for our supporters on and off the track. No sporting fans have better access to their heroes. Our new Finals series has just stirred emotions and opinions like never before. As with all codes this is what sport is all about.

“But no matter what happens, there’s never any place for personal abuse. It can’t be tolerated and must be called out,” he said.

Wood’s teammate and the eventual championship winner, Chaz Mostert, also played a role in standing up against the online hate. He said that both Wood and Walkinshaw Andretti United received a lot of negative messages that had to be called out. He also defended Wood by easing the title-ruining burden off his shoulders.

“Two young titans went at it on Sunday, one was trying to win a race and one a championship,” Mostert wrote. “At the end of the day, the outcome was going to be the same and not because of what happened at the start.”

Passionate fans make up for the voice of motorsports. It can be tough seeing your favorite driver falling out of contention because of a mistake that wasn’t his. This same scenario was witnessed in F1 earlier this week during the Qatar GP.

How F1’s 2025 Qatar GP created a similar scenario for a rookie driver

Lando Norris currently leads the F1 Drivers’ Championship with Max Verstappen and his teammate Oscar Piastri in close contention. The Qatar GP started with the latter leading the race; however, after a strategic mishap, Verstappen saw himself in the lead.

Meanwhile, Norris struggled in P5 behind Andrea Kimi Antonelli, a very promising rookie driving for Mercedes this season.

On the final lap, as Verstappen drove himself closer to the championship, Norris was seen overtaking Antonelli without any effort. This triggered a major discussion down at Red Bull, as Verstappen’s engineer claimed that Antonelli let Norris pass.

Later, there was clarification regarding the situation. Antonelli had lost control of his car exiting a corner, which gave Norris the advantage, but the damage was done. The young Italian driver faced immense online harassment, and he changed his display picture to a black circle, to stand against the abuse.

Red Bull’s advisor, Helmut Marko, later apologized for the confusion.

Social media hatred has become a dark corner in motorsports. But, as in the case of Ryan Wood, the authorities are taking the right steps in condemning such happenings in the future.