Hamilton abuse takes a sinister twist

03/02/2008

It is sad to report that a number of 'fans' are continuing to abuse the McLaren team at Barcelona and in particular 2007 World Championship runner-up Lewis Hamilton.

As previously reported, on Saturday officials at the track sectioned off a section of the grandstand opposite the McLaren garage following complaints about abusive banners and chanting. Furthermore, there were reports, confirmed by a representative of Pitpass, that 'missiles were thrown whenever a McLaren left its garage and headed down the pitlane.

Sadly, today, Sunday, the final day of the test, the abuse continues, and some of it is absolutely shameful to report. Yesterday, according the Spanish newspaper Marca, shouts of "puto negro" (f***ing black) and "negro de mierda" (black shit) were clearly heard, and that large sections of the crowd were involved.

Today, as demonstrated in our exclusive pictures, the racist abuse continues.

These people are not fans of F1, they are not even fans of Fernando Alonso, for they do neither their hero nor their country any good.

Sadly, incidents of racism have plagued Spanish sport in recent years, most memorably football, but thankfully such insidious behaviour has never been part of Formula One, even though the media can be extremely partisan when it comes to certain drivers.

Abusive banners were witnessed at both Jerez and Valencia, however, the whole matter appears to have taken a new, far nastier, twist.

Perhaps, Fernando might be called upon to publicly distance himself from these so-called fans, for F1 doesn't need them.