A sad thing happened at Formula One testing last weekend outside of Barcelona. Fans attending the test spewed racist taunts at Lewis Hamilton, who last year became the first black driver in series history. A photograph from the Times of London showed four spectators in black face. They wore T-shirts that said “Hamilton’s Family.”
 
 
Reports in the Spanish media yesterday indicated that Hamilton had been jeered whenever he made his way from the team motorhome to the back of the pits on Saturday, when he posted the fastest time in the new McLaren.
Hamilton, as he has been throughout his young career, was gracious in response:
The truth is that I feel somewhat sad, I am in love with this country, and especially the city of Barcelona and this circuit, which is one of my three favorites.
The people in Spain have always been very warm with me, and even though I imagined what might happen it has not been pleasant.
But maybe these types of things make you learn to appreciate more the warmth of the public, who although you always try to be there for them, you never know how important they are to you until these types of things happen.
Last year, Lewis Hamilton emerged as next great driver in Formula One. At the age of 22, he was fast, polished, refreshing, friendly, open, funny, sans attitude, and he managed to avoid common rookie mistakes on the circuit. He led the championship going into the final grand prix but lost out to Kimi Raikkonen. This unexpected success overshadowed his experienced teammate, two-time champion Fernando Alonso, who is Spanish.
 
Formula One was never popular in Spain until Alonso emerged at Renault as Michael Schumacher’s last rival (Schumacher retired at the end of 2006). In 2007, Alonso switched teams and drove alongside Hamilton at McLaren-Mercedes. Early on, Hamilton got the better of Alonso on the track, and the Spanish driver voiced his displeasure. McLaren has a long history of treating both drivers as equals; Alonso felt he deserved the superior attention that befit his champion status.
 
Everything came to a head when McLaren was accused of stealing technical documents from Ferrari. It was Alonso who blew the scandal wide open by threatening to send investigators incriminating e-mails he had exchanged with the team’s test driver, Pedro de la Rosa, who is also Spanish. In the end, Ron Dennis, McLaren’s team boss, beat him to the punch, surrendering to Formula One officials, which resulted in a $100 million fine and the team’s exclusion from the constructors’ championship.
 
Spanish fans took their anger out on Hamilton. They still do. Until the vulgar showing at Circuit de Catalunya, it was most visible in online comments at popular Formula One Web sites.
 
But no one could’ve expected anything like this. While the F.I.A., Formula One’s governing body, has opened an investigation into the incident, what’s been interesting so far has been the type of response from the various teams and drivers.
 
According to the Telegraph, McLaren has played down the incident:
A spokeswoman said: “McLaren has raced on Spanish circuits for many years and the team regards Spain and the Spanish people with great affection, Lewis included.”
McLaren have no interest in deepening a rift with the Spanish public. One of their major sponsors, Bank of Santander, is Spanish and Spain remains a hugely important market for title sponsor Vodafone.
And, well… that’s pretty much it. I have searched all morning and have yet to find a single driver quote, sound bite or grunt condemning the behavior. Nothing from Alonso. Nothing from fellow Brit Jenson Button. Nothing from defending champion Kimi Raikkonen. Maybe journalists on the scene have yet to report their responses, but it wouldn’t be too hard to believe that the drivers and teams, which have a history of insulating themselves from the rest of society, are more preoccupied with lap times and downforce than real life.
 
Formula One prides itself as a global sport. That’s a tried and true sales pitch for squeezing more millions from sponsors. But fear of losing those millions seems to control every word or action. As for the drivers, there are so many layers of handlers, managers and people with clipboards surrounding them that I doubt a single word comes out of their mouths that hasn’t been vetted by lawyers and P.R. But the attacks on Hamilton are a very human issue, and they deserve a human response. We’re waiting.
 
 
 
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