Sebastian Vettel, Lando Norris issue classy responses to Lewis Hamilton abuse

Sebastian Vettel and Lando Norris both expressed their support for Lewis Hamilton, saying Formula 1 has work to do still on inclusivity.

As drivers met with the media ahead of the British Grand Prix, a topic which naturally came to the forefront was Nelson Piquet’s use of a racial slur in reference to Hamilton during an interview towards the end of 2021, although the three-time World Champion denies that it was used with that intention.

Vettel, like Hamilton, is highly active in campaigning and creating projects surrounding social and environmental matters, so the four-time World Champion was asked for his take on what Hamilton has been through over the “last few days”.

In response though, Vettel stressed that this is an issue which goes back far further than recent days, explaining that Formula 1 continues to work to show that it is open to everyone.

“I think it’s more than just the recent days if you are very honest, it is probably what he has been through and his family has been through his entire life,” Vettel told reporters at Silverstone.

“Now, any form of abuse I think, is wrong. So I think it was great to see that there was so much response from all of the F1 community and so quickly people responded and expressed support on the matter towards Lewis.

“We don’t think that there should be any room for these kind of comments, and we still have to do a lot. I think we’ve come a lot further than maybe years ago, but it doesn’t help when there is still these things out there and people still using inappropriate language and saying wrong things.

“So I think it is very important to talk about it and continue to talk about it. Because as I said, it’s not gone and it won’t be gone overnight. That will be great. But it is a bigger matter. And F1 in that regard has a responsibility to carry and address these issues which I think we’re trying to, we have the campaign ‘We Race As One’ which is very clear where we’re going and where we want to go in the future.

“And more than language and things that we are trying to do, I think is how we behave and how we include everyone there is, no matter which colour you are, no matter what type of partner you have, what’s your sexual orientation, so any community is welcome and we should always respond in that way very quickly and make it clear that we are open to anyone because kindness matters, people matter.

“And it was like I said, bad to see what what was going on.”