FIA demands report from Spanish GP organisersLewis Hamilton has shared his thoughts regarding the racial abuse he was subjected to during last week-end's Formula One group tests at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain. On each occasion the McLaren driver left the pits, insults
were thrown at him by a group of spectators, some wearing black wigs with black make-up, some of which also carried banners with slogans criticising him.
The slurs seemingly came form ardent
Fernando Alonso fans who blame Hamilton for the Spaniard's frustrated championship campaign last year.
"The truth is that I feel somewhat sad, I am in love with this country, and especially the city of Barcelona and this circuit, which is one of my three favourites," said Hamilton, speaking to sportlifepress.com.
"The people in Spain have always been very warm with me, and even though I imagined what might happen it has not been pleasant," he added. "But maybe these types of things make you learn to appreciate more the warmth of the public, who although you always try to be there for them, you never know how important they are to you until these types of things happen."
"I would like them (the Spanish fans) to understand my position," Hamilton requested.
"The only thing that I have done is to try to give the best of myself and try to win the championship, at no point have I tried to deliberately prejudice Fernando (Alonso), but the fight has been very tough and my image in Spain has been severely damaged," the McLaren driver explained.
"McLaren has raced and tested on Spanish circuits for many years and everyone connected with the team regards Spain and the Spanish people with great affection, Lewis included," a McLaren-Mercedes spokeswoman declared over the week-end.
Meanwhile, F1's governing body has demanded an explanation from its Spanish counterparts after the racial taunts at the recent Barcelona test.
Publications on Monday reported that Spain's motor racing federation, the RFEA, has received instructions from the FIA to produce a full report into the events at Circuit de Catalunya, where Hamilton and his McLaren team were treated as hate figures by members of the crowd.
The reports cited sources close to the FIA as warning that Spain risks losing its Grands Prix, at Barcelona and on the streets of Valencia, if the federation cannot contain further instances of racial abuse, including vocal taunts and banners.
British news agency Reuters quotes a spokesman for the Paris body as saying it has written to the RFEA to "know what measures were put in place to deal with the incidents and what will be put in place to ensure there is no repetition of such abuse in the future."
In addition, British Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe said he would be writing to the FIA to ask the governing body to ensure there could be no repeat of the abuse suffered by Hamilton, which echoed the treatment dished out to black footballers when England played a friendly match in Madrid in 2004.
"I was shocked by those sickening images," Sutcliffe said. "How on earth were fans dressed like this allowed into the circuit?"
Sutcliffe said he would be also writing to his Spanish counterpart, adding: "Racism should not be tolerated and this is not the first time British sportsmen have been racially abused in Spain."
Source AFP
