Red Bull mechanic fires back after being criticised for working for ‘racist team’

Racism has, regrettably, been a huge topic in Formula 1 of late.

A Red Bull mechanic has revealed a racially motivated message he received on Instagram surrounding his employment with the team.

There has been many a suggestion on social media over the last few months that there is an endemic issue surrounding racism at the Red Bull team who, along with Mercedes, have sacked employees for racism in recent years.

A former engineer at Aston Martin also detailed the abuse he received while working in Silverstone, but the main bulk of the attention has been directed at Red Bull.

Red Bull junior driver Juri Vips was removed from his role as test and reserve driver after he used a racist term during a livestream some weeks ago, and comments have also been made about Dr Helmut Marko and Max Verstappen, although there is no evidence of any racist behaviour from either of them.

READ: Piquet facing civil charges after racially abusing Lewis Hamilton

Nonetheless, the Austrian side has been accused of having a “culture” of racism within the team, and a black mechanic working with the team received a message on Instagram asking why he was working with them as a black person.

Callum Nicholas took a screengrab of the message and posted it to his story, writing “what is wrong with people?”

READ: Leclerc indirectly fires shot at Verstappen while defending Lewis Hamilton against Piquet’s racism

Users on Instagram and Twitter were labelled “beyond stupid” by a user on Reddit, while another suggested that the concept of social media was a “mistake.”

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Racism has been a key theme of recent weeks in Formula 1 after Nelson Piquet was caught abusing Sir Lewis Hamilton last year, before Bernie Ecclestone appeared to defend the Brazilian’s actions.

There were also multiple reports of discrimination and harassment from drunk fans throughout the Austrian Grand Prix weekend.