The instances of online racial abuse and trolling are on the rise. After English footballer Bukayo Saka, Jadon Sancho, and Marcus Rashford, it is British car racer Lewis Hamilton, who was subjected to online racial abuse during and after his controversial win in the British Grand Prix, said a joint statement
by Formula One, the FIA, and his Mercedes team.

“During, and after,
yesterday’s British Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton was subjected to multiple
instances of racist abuse on social media following an in-race collision,”
they said in a joint statement condemning the behaviour “in the strongest
possible terms”.

“These
people have no place in our sport and we urge that those responsible should be
held accountable for their actions, it added.

The reports of racism came as the seven-time world champion was  involved early on in a collision incident that saw championship leader Max
Verstappen plough his Red Bull into a wall and out of the race.

After this, Hamilton
was hit by a 10-second penalty but he somehow managed to win the race despite that and closed the gap in the final race.

Meanwhile, Verstappen, who was taken to
hospital after the race, later accused Hamilton of
“disrespectful and unsportsmanlike behaviour” following which the troll army launched a racial attack on social media against the winner.

However, this is not the first time a sportsperson was abused based on his race after a match. Recently, English footballers Bukayo Saka, Jadon Sancho, and Marcus Rashford, were made the target of an online racial attack 

after they missed penalties in the Euro 2020 final.  

After the incident, Bukayo Saka called out social media giants like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for not taking stringent steps to stamp out racial abuse.

Saka took to his Twitter to ask social media platforms to take responsibility for the racist speech propagated on their systems.