Reports have emerged of yet more racist abuse being thrown at Sir Lewis Hamilton by Max Verstappen fans at last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix.
What started as an entertaining, if a little controversial, rivalry between Hamilton and Verstappen last year has descended into personal, abusive and abhorrent behaviour from some of their almost cultist supporters, many of whom got into Formula 1 through the toxicity of social media of the Netflix docuseries Drive to Survive.
Cheers would be heard at last season’s British Grand Prix when Verstappen was sent into the wall after a crash with his title rival, and the same occurred again in Spielberg last weekend when Hamilton crashed in qualifying.
The seven-time champion lost the rear of his Mercedes at Turn Seven, went across the gravel, and collided with the barrier, causing celebrations amid the orange army in the grandstands.
READ: Lewis Hamilton admits concern about spare parts after costly Austria crash
This was not all. There were horrible reports of sexual harassment and discrimination all weekend, and one fan, who was attending their first-ever race last weekend, has documented some awful racist abuse directed at Hamilton.
“Today, I attended the very first Formula 1 race in my life,” they tweeted.
“Since I was 6 years old I was dreaming of this day.
“Sadly, Lewis and George didn’t have their best day in Q3 and crashed – that’s sport! Even more sadly we’re the racist people yelling at Lewis after his crash.”
The fan confirmed that the n-word had been used, and it deterred them from wanting to go to the track and view the sprint and the grand prix.
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“I heard all kinds of swearings but also the n-word which triggered me extremely,” they added.
“I think this is unacceptable and I’m full of shame for the Austrian GP and their so-called ‚fans‘. How to proceed? I think I will not go seeing the sprint tomorrow and the race on Sunday.”
They stated their intent to try and make the pinnacle of motorsport a better place for all, as the comradery between racing fans in years gone by seems to have almost completely dissipated.
“I feel sorry for Lewis who is facing racism like this since he was a child and I wish I could do anything against it,” explained the Twitter user.
“I hope that more and more people realise how toxic F1 has become – maybe together we can change the sport for the better.”
Hamilton was also the victim of racist abuse at the hands of Nelson Piquet in November, while Red Bull terminated the test and reserve contract of Juri Vips when the Estonian used a racist slur during a livestream.