Hamilton racism target

Spanish racists have set up a vile website targeting Lewis Hamilton ahead of his bid to become Formula One's first black world champion. Hamilton has said he is "vaguely aware" of the site and is attempting to put the sickening disruption to his world title dreams to the back of his mind. The sport had hoped the scenes witnessed at a test session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona earlier this year were a one-off. A handful of Spanish people blackened their faces, wore curly black wigs and sported T-shirts with the inscription 'Hamilton's family'. That prompted world governing body, the FIA, to launch their anti-racism campaign EveryRace, with Hamilton as its figurehead. But with Sunday's title-deciding showdown at Interlagos in São Paulo, Brazil, on the horizon, Hamilton is again embroiled in a racist storm. The FIA and Hamilton's team McLaren have jointly condemned those who had posted sickening messages, many of which are too abusive to publish. An FIA spokesman said: "Our position is very clear - discrimination and prejudice can have no place in sport or in society. "Everyone in our sport will join us in condemning these abusive and hateful comments." A spokesman for the team added: "McLaren was one of the earliest supporters of the FIA's 'EveryRace' campaign, and we support that campaign still. We've seen the statement from an FIA spokesman, and we can only echo it." Success on Sunday would make Hamilton the youngest person to claim the title, only the second driver to win the championship in his second season, and the first Briton to take the crown since Damon Hill 12 years ago. The 23-year-old carries a seven-point lead into the race over his only rival Felipe Massa, and must only finish in the top five to realise his dream. But Massa has home advantage at Interlagos and will have 100,000 Brazilians cheering him on.

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ITN | October 31, 2008

Tags:. .figurehead. .embroiled. .title. .seen. .felipe massa