Formula 1 drivers and teams united in condemnation of the sexual harassment suffered by some female fans who attended last weekend’s round at the Red Bull Ring, in addition to reports of homophobic insults and racist slurs.
One female fan reported on social media that a group of men lifted her skirt, telling her she didn’t deserve respect because she was a Lewis Hamilton fan. The stories of other women were widely reported during the weekend.
RaceFans spoke to another fan prior to Sunday’s race, who recounted her experience. “The first things started on Saturday evening when we were waving at the drivers going home in their cars,” she told us.
“There were drunk Max [Verstappen] fans screaming and asking weird questions like, “What are you doing?” and just generally being rude and insulting the security, who called the police because they were acting really weird.
“After that, I took the shuttle to Knittelfeld and there was a really drunk guy with us, he only talked gibberish.
“He kept calling me Yuki Tsunoda because I am small and wore AlphaTauri merchandise, which already made me a bit uncomfortable.
“He sat right in front of us and he straight up grabbed me behind my face, at my ear because he wanted me to listen to him. I told him to stop and he only said, ‘What are you scared already?’ and I started crying.
“He also was asking really inappropriate things like what things I’m going to do with my boyfriend tonight. I just told him, ‘Nothing I‘m tired’ and he replied, ‘No you’ve got to give him what you want’.
“I was losing it completely and just burst into tears.”
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Reports from other women describing the harassment and abuse they had experienced, and their concerns for their safety, went viral on social media. Many senior members of F1 were evidently appalled by what had happened. The likes of Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel spoke out especially forcefully, but were by no means the only ones to do so.
But what is most concerning is that this is not a new phenomenon. These kinds of stories, of women being attacked or cat-called in crowds, have emerged at sporting events for years. A ‘pack mentality’ exists among certain groups of predominantly male fans. Hearing these stories, it’s no surprise some women would have felt too afraid to return to the track.
To their credit, Formula 1 was quick to act. The problem…
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