Bernie Ecclestone Once Asked ‘Racist Fans’ to Confront Lewis Hamilton: “Explain to him Why You Blacked Your Face”

Tanish Chachra | 06/05/2023
Bernie Ecclestone Once Asked 'Racist Fans' to Confront Lewis Hamilton: "Explain to him Why You Blacked Your Face"

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso’s skirmish at Mclaren made the former a villain in Spain. But a set of Spanish fans took it a step ahead when during the 2008 Spanish Grand Prix, they appeared on the stands with blackened faces to racially mock Hamilton. Bernie Ecclestone revealed he allowed the racist fans to confront Hamilton.

The former Formula 1 boss approached them in the stands when their appearance seemed clearly inappropriate. Ecclestone offered them to visit the track the next day, and they’ll be taken to Hamilton, where they can tell the latter what they meant, but that offer was never accepted.

“Well, tomorrow, we will get hold of you and bring you into the paddock, and you can face up to Lewis [Hamilton] and explain to him why you blacked your face,” recalled Ecclestone to Business F1.

The former S1 Supremo reveals at first, for those racist fans, the idea seemed amusing. But he made himself clear that it’s not in fun. Ecclestone then revealed the next day the same fans didn’t appear.

For Lewis Hamilton, it was like re-living the trauma

Hamilton has been a racial minority in the sport since his karting days. In fact, he is the only black driver in the history of F1 to race in a Grand Prix. Thus, the lack of representation has always made the seven-time world champion a target of racism.

Recalling that time, Hamilton said in WSJ magazine back in 2021 that he was pained to see those visuals even though he didn’t say anything. What hurt him even more, was that none of his competitors stood up for him and remained silent.

That incident got buried as the years went by, but with the black lives matter movement, everything that Hamilton faced as racial abuse resurfaced. At the peak of the protests, Hamilton even accused F1 of not doing enough to bring racial justice to the sport.

The birth of the Hamilton Commission

Hamilton surely has faced a lot for his skin color. However, he wants to bring a change through the pedestal he received. A couple of years ago, the seven-time world champion launched the Hamilton Commission, which aims to bring diversity to the sport by promoting people of color in key positions across motorsports.

The campaign created by Hamilton is still one of the most talked about topics in the F1 fraternity. Hamilton also runs Mission 44, a foundation that Hamilton laid to transform the lives of children from disadvantaged and discriminated backgrounds.

With such efforts, Hamilton has become one of the prominent voices in the sport to talk about several issues in the world. Therefore, his personality in F1 is now not limited to just racing but goes much beyond that.

Post Edited By: Samriddhi Jaiswal
Bernie Ecclestone Lewis Hamilton Mercedes

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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