Hamilton insists he's happy to head for Spain
RACISTS DON'T SCARE ME
By IAN GORDON
LEWIS HAMILTON has told the race-hate thugs: You don't scare me!
The British F1 sensation says he has no fears about returning to Spain's Circuit de Catalunya next Sunday for a crunch grand prix.
Hamilton will be racing in Barcelona for the first time since he was the victim of vile abuse and obscene gestures at a pre-season test in January.
The sport's first black driver was abused by fans following his stormy relationship with former McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso last year,
Problem
Hamilton, 23, admitted: "Obviously when it happened it wasn't very pleasant at the time.
"But I didn't have any fears in Barcelona the last time. And I don't have any fears going back there now for the race next week.
"What happened at the test was very sad. But I expected it in some ways after what happened with Fernando last year.
"And I think it is in the past and I don't see it ever being a problem in the future."
Hamilton, who suffered racist abuse as a schoolboy, incurred the hatred of the Spanish fans after refusing to play the role of rookie underling to Alonso last season.
The Hertfordshire-born driver got the better of the Spaniard, who rejoined Renault at the end of a nightmare season.
But sick fans took out their anger when Hamilton tested his Mercedes-powered car at the track outside Barcelona during the winter.
Obscene
Fans painted their faces black, put up obscene banners and shouted abuse at Hamilton as he made his way from the hospitality area to the team garage.
Motor sport chiefs reacted furiously by warning that Spain could lose both its races this year — Valencia hosts the European Grand Prix in August — if there was a repeat.
And although there were no further incidents when Hamilton tested at the track last week it will be harder to police fans next Sunday with a sell-out 130,000 crowd expected.
The FIA, motor sport's world governing body, is launching its Racing Against Racism campaign which was inspired by the abuse suffered by Hamilton.
Hamilton added: "I am not aware of anything happening but I would support it
"But I am looking forward to going to Barcelona. I love racing there. It is one of my favourite tracks.
"And I know that I have got a lot of support in Spain from the fans out there."
Hamilton's biggest threat looks to be on the track as he attempts to hit back following his nightmare time at the last race in Bahrain two weeks ago. The Swiss-based racer has slipped to third in the world championship — five points behind title-holder Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari.
Hamilton's 13th place in Manama means he has scored just 16 points — and 10 came with his opening race victory in Australia — in the last five grands prix stretching back to last season.
Confident
Raikkonen and Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa and the BMW duo of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica have all scored more in the same period.
But Hamilton (right) warned: "I was bound to have a bad period at some stage.
"I'm not concerned. There is still a long way to go this season and I'm confident the car will be quicker after our test."
I dont see Lewis Hamilton as a 'black' driver. I see him as an incredibly talented young man who has come from nowhere, just a working class family, and good luck to him.He hasn't had multi million pound backing from day one, he has done it all himself. What everyone is seeing is a legend in the making.......Lewis is going to be HUGE I wish I were in his shoes.
I say ogod luck to him and I hope he wins the world title this year.
Come on Lewis..............you show them by winning the title. I reckon you're going to be the next Senna.........and if you ever want to get away from the bullying racists you can pop round to mine for a cup of tea anytime!!
Posted by: Dave Cox | April 20, 2008 at 11:17 AM | Report this comment
I would say that talking about racism in the sport after what Max Mosely has done it definetely has a new meaning.
In Spain there were thousands and thousands of people and only few were "attacking" Hamilton. Lewis is a driver and it does not matter his colour but he was a very bad Team mate and his declarations after the Monaco Grand Prix when he went against his boss (and friend) Ron Dennis and against Alonso, showed the world he is a spoiled brat. Colour has nothing to do with it. And thanks to him MacLaren lost the championship (drivers one) with his famous re-set button. Everyone knows it did happen but they want to cover it up (and it has happened again this year to his new Team mat) He is a very good driver but his image of ratting and then making those silly mistakes allow everyone to criticise him regardless of his colour. When they called Alonso a xxx foreigner in Britain, is that racism? DO we only say it is racism when someone is black?? And regarding hooliganism, let's not forget that we invented it in Britain with some of our football fans. So we should be the first ones to be quite about it... And Mosley... what can I say about him? He is YESTERDAY'S NEWS.
Posted by: Dante | April 21, 2008 at 11:20 PM | Report this comment
Lewis has not looked very talented in his last 2 races, i think he's yet another fine example of an over rated english sports personality, like Beckham, Damon Hill, Button etc, over hyped! he's a good driver, I'd like to put him in a toyota, I'd like to see his form in a lesser car. Lewis was very very lucky, and he blew it, firstly, in his rookie year he was given a car which was on par with the ferrari, thanks to stepney, and then he had the current world champion as his team mate, someone he should & could of learnt alot from, but instead he turned him into an enemy and they worked against each other. Mclaren should of had Alonso as the main driver & lewis as the next champ in line to take over after Alonso, Mclaren would of won last years championship, Alonso would of been happy, Mclaren would of not been fined.
Posted by: Alan | April 23, 2008 at 04:58 AM | Report this comment