Lewis Hamilton said he is “disgusted and disappointed” following reports that fans have been subjected to racist and homophobic abuse at the Austrian Grand Prix.
A number of allegations have emerged on social media from people attending this weekend’s race at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.
Formula One bosses have launched an investigation into the claims, describing them as “unacceptable”.
Hamilton, who took aim at a number of Max Verstappen’s supporters after they cheered his 140mph qualifying crash, wrote on Instagram: “Disgusted and disappointed to hear that some fans are facing racist, homophobic and generally abusive behaviour at the circuit this weekend.
“Attending the Austrian Grand Prix or any GP should never be a source of anxiety and pain for fans and something must be done to ensure that races are safe spaces for all.
“Please, if you see this happening, report it to circuit security and to F1. We cannot sit back and allow this to continue.”
An earlier statement from F1 read: “We have been made aware of reports that some fans have been subject to completely unacceptable comments by others at the Austrian Grand Prix.
“We take these matters very seriously, have raised them with the promoter and event security, and will be speaking to those who reported the incidents.
“This kind of behaviour is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 10, 2022
Sixty thousand fans have travelled from Holland to turn this weekend’s race into a home event for Verstappen.
A number of Verstappen’s orange-clad army celebrated Hamilton’s demise in qualifying.
Responding to their celebrations, Hamilton said: “I don’t agree with any of that, no matter what. A driver could have been in hospital, and you are going to cheer that?
“It is mind-blowing that people would do that, knowing how dangerous our sport is. I was grateful I didn’t end up in hospital and I wasn’t heavily injured.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here