Lewis Hamilton is the first British driver to win a Formula One Grand Prix since 1996, but his victory has been overshadowed by racially abusive messages posted online.
Lewis Hamilton has been racially abused online after winning the British Grand Prix. The abuse was posted on social media and showed a picture of Lewis with a black eye.
Max Verstappen’s championship lead was reduced to eight points after Lewis Hamilton’s win at Silverstone.
Following his victory in the British Grand Prix on Sunday, Lewis Hamilton has been the subject of racial vitriol on social media.
After a collision with championship contender Max Verstappen on the opening lap of the race, which resulted in the Dutchman crashing out, Hamilton was given a 10-second penalty.
The abuse was denounced “in the harshest possible terms” by Mercedes, F1, and the regulatory body, the FIA.
A united statement said, “These individuals have no place in our sport.”
“We believe that those who are responsible for their acts should be held accountable.
“Formula One, the FIA, the drivers, and the teams are all striving to make the sport more diverse and inclusive, and such abhorrent examples of online abuse must be exposed and eradicated.”
“We have seen it in football at the European Championship and the abuse that is simply not acceptable, and the same yesterday, and I still wonder if some just don’t understand it,” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff told Radio 4’s Today programme.
“This is unacceptable, and we will respond accordingly.”
“The racial abuse aimed towards Hamilton during and after the British Grand Prix is abhorrent, and we’ve deleted a number of comments from Instagram,” Facebook, which owns Instagram, said in a statement.
“In addition to our efforts to delete comments and accounts that violate our rules on a regular basis, there are safety tools available, such as comment filters and message restrictions, that may ensure that no one is exposed to this kind of abuse.”
“No one solution will solve this problem overnight, but we’re dedicated to doing all we can to keep our community safe from abuse.”
After sustaining a 51G impact in the accident, Verstappen was transported to the hospital for precautionary tests, but he was subsequently discharged with no serious injuries.
Following his pit stop, Hamilton dropped to fourth position due to a 10-second penalty, but the seven-time world champion battled back to pass Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with two circuits left to claim victory.
Hamilton was subsequently dubbed “disrespectful” and “unsportsmanlike” by Verstappen for celebrating the victory while the Dutchman was in the hospital.
The incident occurs less than a week after England players Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, and Bukayo Saka were all attacked with racist abuse on social media after missing penalties in the Three Lions’ Euro 2020 final shootout loss to Italy.
A mural honoring Manchester United star Marcus Rashford was also vandalized, but it was quickly rebuilt and filled with hundreds of words of support the following day.
The UK government says it wants people who abuse footballers online to be barred from attending games, and that its Online Safety Bill would make it easier for social media firms to intervene.
Twitter claimed it had deleted 1,000 tweets and banned accounts posting nasty material in reaction to the abuse directed at England players, and that it has tools and filters that could be enabled to prevent account holders from viewing abusive information.
Lewis Hamilton was racially abused online after his win at the British Grand Prix. The abuse came from a section of the British public and also former F1 drivers, who believe that Hamilton should be ashamed of himself for winning. Reference: f1 news.
Related Tags
- lewis hamilton crash
- lewis hamilton max verstappen accident
- lewis hamilton instagram
- f1 standings
- lewis hamilton net worth
