Worker details racist and homophobic abuse while at Aston Martin

A contractor who worked for Aston Martin has detailed racist and homophobic language used against him while he completed work for the Formula 1 team earlier in the year.

Warning: This article contains details of offensive terms used, which could upset and offend some readers.

A report from Sky News details how Aidan Louw completed work as a laminator as part of the manufacturing process of the AMR22, with the 25-year-old having started working there in February.

Louw, who is mixed-race and holds dual citizenship in South Africa and Britain, told Sky: “Before I even walked into my working environment that’s when I was told, ‘look if you’ve got a problem with how we speak here, it’s just how we speak’.”

“I wasn’t referred to as Aidy…or anything like that. I was called [racially offensive slurs] – that is what I was referred to.

“It was towards the end of the duration that I had finally processed what was happening.”

Louw also told someone at the team about a boyfriend he had during his school days, which he then said prompted homophobic abuse which saw the Aston Martin staff in question, who Sky report now no longer work for the team, “trying to claw me down to break me down as a man, as an individual and a human.”

Aston Martin said “appropriate sanctions” were taken against those responsible for the “unacceptable behaviour” that took place, after his “complaints were immediately acted upon” within the team.

Louw’s contract was terminated with the team for “poor timekeeping” and “poor performance” – unrelated to any of the abuse he suffered while working for them – though Louw, who had also previously worked for Williams, Alpine and McLaren, believes his performance and timekeeping had been affected by the actions of others.

Sky News received a statement from Aston Martin in response to Louw’s words, which said: “AMR [Aston Martin Racing] and its supplier operate a zero-tolerance policy with regard to racism, homophobia and all types of discrimination.

“We deal with any allegations of this unacceptable behaviour seriously, including thoroughly investigating such claims and sanctioning any individual who falls short of our standards.

“In this case, the complainant was rightly believed, his complaints were immediately acted upon and appropriate sanctions were imposed in line with our zero-tolerance policy.

“We are in ongoing discussions with him.”

Louw, who started out working in…