FIA and Mercedes make statement following racist abuse on social media

F1 News

19 July 2021 at 08:11
Last update 19 July 2021 at 08:20
  • GPblog.com

The FIA and Mercedes have published a joint statement that says Lewis Hamilton was subjected to racist abuse on social media during and after the British Grand Prix. Hamilton won the race at Silverstone for the eighth time. World Championship rivals Hamilton and Verstappen collided during the opening lap of the race.

On social media, there were tens of thousands of reactions, but not all positive. Some included racist abuse. The FIA has now together with Mercedes published A STATEMENT: "During, and after, yesterday’s British Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton was subjected to multiple instances of racist abuse on social media following an in-race collision."

"Formula 1, The FIA and Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team condemn this behaviour in the strongest possible terms. These people have no place in our sport and we urge that those responsible should be held accountable for their actions. Formula 1, the FIA, the drivers and the teams are working to build a more diverse and inclusive sport, and such unacceptable instances of online abuse must be highlighted and eliminated," the statement concluded.

Social media

This news comes a week after three players of the England football squad received racist abuse on social media. Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho were targeted after they missed penalties in the Euro 2020 final. The police arrested a number of people as a result of this.