/ 1 November 2008

Hamilton shrugs off racial abuse

Briton Lewis Hamilton on Friday shrugged off racial abuse and other stunts aimed at damaging his chances in Sunday’s showdown Brazilian Grand Prix.

Hamilton, the 23-year-old McLaren Mercedes driver, is bidding this weekend to become Formula One’s youngest world champion and needs only to finish fifth, or better, to claim the title at the Interlagos circuit on Sunday.

If he wins he will be F1’s youngest and first black world champion and become a worldwide icon for his achievements. He is already the first driver of Afro-Caribbean descent to have climbed from obscurity to reach the highest level of motor racing.

Yet his success has attracted as much envy, and in some quarters hatred, as admiration and respect, a situation that on Friday resulted in members of the British Parliament considering what action to take in defence of Hamilton.

On Thursday, he was the subject of racial abuse published by a Spanish website and, in the evening, faced another negative stunt at a public function in São Paulo where a black cat was thrown to land close to him by abusive comics.

Throughout this test of his temperament and mental focus, Hamilton managed to retain his normal serenity, making it clear he wished not to engage with anyone who behaved in this way.

In London, Labour Party MP, Keith Vaz, chairperson of the Labour Party’s Ethnic Minority Taskforce, called on Britain’s Foreign Secretary, David Milliband, to take action and said the British government should demand that the Spanish government clamped down on the sources of this racial abuse.

He said: ”The Spanish government cannot stand back and allow this organised and systematic racism to continue. These people must be widely condemned and the websites that they use shut down immediately.

”I call upon the foreign secretary to make a formal protest to the Spanish government urging them to act on this serious issue that looks set only to escalate if action is not taken now.”

Both the FIA and McLaren spoke out against the comments published by the website.

On Thursday evening, local comedians attempted to jinx Hamilton’s title challenge when they threw a toy black cat on to the stage while he was attending a promotional event. Black cats are considered to be bad luck symbols in Brazil.

Hamilton was unperturbed, preferring to highlight that his relationship with Brazilian title rival Felipe Massa ”is great”.

”He’s a fantastic competitor and we will race as hard as we can to win. But I don’t have to win this weekend,” said Hamilton.

”I plan to race exactly the same as I always do. I grew up racing the way I do and that’s what has got me to where I am today.”

He added that he had special feelings this weekend about his childhood hero Ayrton Senna, who was Brazil’s last world champion in 1991.

He said: ”Every time I come here I feel a different emotion. I think it’s because he meant so much to me in my life when I was younger and coming up through the ranks. I can feel his presence.

”To be named in the same sentence as him is an honour. I don’t aim to be or believe anyone can be another Ayrton Senna. He was one of a kind. But I aim to try to make him proud and be as good as he was one day.”

Hamilton received a boost, also, from an unexpected source when two-time champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso, who suffered as his teammate with McLaren in 2007, said he felt only respect towards him — and had no hard feelings.

Alonso made clear he did not identify with the racist abuse aimed at the 23-year-old Englishman in any way. ”Lewis and I talk, we get along fine and we respect each other,” he said. — Sapa-AFP