McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton can clinch his first FI championship this Sunday in Sao Paolo with a mere top 5 finish, but he’ll attempt to do so against the backdrop of claims he’s facing racist abuse, and not for the first time, either. From the Independent’s Emily Ashton :
World governing body the FIA have been quick to condemn a “voodoo-style” website in Spain where hundreds of abusive messages have been posted.
Visitors to the site, which was not working this lunchtime, have been encouraged to drop imaginary nails, pins or porcupines on a mock-up of the Interlagos circuit.
Labour MP Keith Vaz, chairman of the party’s Ethnic Minority Taskforce, urged Foreign Secretary David Miliband to formally protest to Spain asking them to take whatever steps necessary to stop the abuse.
Mr Vaz said it was clear that the website – named Pincha la Rueda de Hamilton, which translates as Burst Hamilton’s Tyre – was set up to destabilise Hamilton before this weekend’s race.
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.”