London ¨C Renault-owned Alpine condemned on Thursday online abuse of its Argentine Formula One driver Franco Colapinto over?an incident in Japan as well as death threats directed at the team¡¯s former racer Esteban Ocon in China.

The team also dismissed suspicions from some ?fans of ¡°sabotage¡°?and that Colapinto was not being given equal equipment to teammate ?Pierre Gasly.

Colapinto ?was caught up in Oliver Bearman¡¯s crash at the Japanese Grand Priz last ?Sunday, with the Haas driver swerving to avoid the Argentine¡¯s much slower car and hitting the barriers.

Ocon, now Bearman¡¯s teammate at Haas, accepted ?blame for a clash with Colapinto in Shanghai last month.

Alpine, in a lengthy statement, condemned ¡°hateful messages¡°??aimed at Colapinto and Ocon after the two incidents.

¡°Esteban took full responsibility and apologized to Franco, actively seeking him out in the media pen ?and also apologizing on social media,¡± it said.?¡°?The resulting abuse that followed was not in the spirit of the sport and was an oversight not to call it ?out sooner,¡± it ?said.

¡°Abuse of any kind to all drivers is unacceptable and ?it was especially disappointing that it comes from a minority of fans ?of the ?team towards a driver who has given so much to the team in the past and is a Grand Prix winner for Alpine.¡±

Alpine also condemned ¡°hateful behavior¡°?toward?Colapinto after the race in?Suzuka, Mie Prefecture.

With Formula One now on a ?break due to the cancellation of April races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia as a result of conflict in the Gulf region, Alpine said it also wanted to address concern about its treatment of the drivers.

Gasly has scored 15 of Alpine¡¯s 16 points in three races ?so ?far this season, with Colapinto¡¯s lone point scored in China.

¡°Any questions ?about sabotage or not giving Franco the same car are completely unfounded, which is why ?the team felt the need to speak out,¡± said Alpine.

¡°There might be times this year when pushing in the development race that upgrades come to one car first, which the team will communicate and be completely transparent about. That ?being said, the aim will always remain to bring upgrades to both cars where possible.

¡°It¡¯s absolutely not in the team¡¯s interests to not score points, and any suggestion of self sabotage isn¡¯t conducive to that ultimate end goal ... there¡¯s no withholding of information or keeping performance tricks hidden away.¡°?