For those of you wondering about Fernando Alonso's silence in the midst of this issue: six months ago, when he was being slandered by the British media and Ron Dennis kept quiet, Alonso decided not to comment anything every time Lewis Hamilton, Ron Dennis or Ana Rosa Quintana (the conductor of a Spanish afternoon gossip show) opened their mouth.

The abuse that the 'unhappy Spaniard' (aka known as the 'miserable Iberian') had to bear is none less than what Lewis Hamilton had to put up with at Montmeló. Either way the abuse was excessive and should be condemned. But at the time, not only did Lewis and Ron NOT speak out for Fernando, but they added more fuel to the flames (the 'I'm loyal to the team' line and 'only I should remain on the team next year').

So please be fair. Lewis does not deserve this racist harassment, but he is not worthy of any kind of sympathy from his former team-mate.

Michel Angstadt, Serranillos del Valle, (Madrid) Spain

The word some of you are dwelling on is 'guiris' (pronounced more or less as 'gearies'), which is slang for foreigners of the 'white' variety.

Michel Angstadt, Serranillos del Valle, (Madrid) Spain

Nigel
"guides"?
I mean "guides"?
Are you sure it was Spain the place where you lived for two years?

"guides"?, what is that?

rtf, Jerez de la Frontera, Spain

The "anglo world" dominates the F1: MCLaren, FIA, Ecclestone..all F1 is ruled by anglo-people, and now, they have a new spoiled boy (Hamilton). When the english press say something, they follow them as sheeps. Remember Monaco 2007 incident and the FIA decisions about Hamilton the last year, this is another stupid manoeuvre of the "anglo world".

Alex, Bilbao, Spain

Fernando of Madrid. carnival? joke? Oh please, you may be deluding yourself, but most of the rest of the world sees the racism that affects sport in your country as something you should be ashamed of , instead of which you try and explain it away as an illusion.

I would be more impressed if you had simply stated that it was unacceptable and should be stamped out.

peter, cardiff, uk

Ramu Ramsingh, I only hope you're being ironic.

Chris Beach, Asturias, Spain

I sincerely hope that Lewis Hamilton wins the test at Jerez this is the only fitting response to the racist abuse dished out by ignorant Spanish F1 fans. Lewis may be young and arrogant which characteristically may annoy some people (not unlike any Premiership football player black or white) and he is also extremely talented and would never have achieved what he did last year during his first season if he wasn't a superb driver. It would be excellent if black fans could support him at the next three day test, even better if his British fans (of any race) could hold banners with Lewis Hamilton's family with a Union Jack in the corner.

Lewis should continue to hold his head high and get on with the job he is paid to do and one that he clearly excels at.

MF, London,

Don't be silly. The only thing that matters is money. Mr Hamilton will win if he has the best car. If you don't believe it, put your money where your mouth is.

Adrian, London,

What about to cancel all African Diamonds Mines?

Or, perhaps, to stop murdering Brazilians just because they "look like terrorist" ?

Should english clean your house first?


And, imagine for one minute a white Hamilton, do you think Montmeló incidents would not happened?


Ridiculous.

Kormak, Dubai,

Typical Spanish apologist reactions - you British are racist so it's okay if we are too. There is No excuse for the behaviour at the Barcelona track, and anyone who does not condemn it is tarred with the same brush.
And all we hear from Fernando Alonso is silence. If he were to come out and publicly condemn this kind of behaviour then perhaps we would see an end to it. But he's loving it, isn't he...

John Bard, Los Angeles,

The mother land of Houston S. Chamberlain accuses to Racist's Spain. Sublime irony.

Raul, Madrid, Spain

To Gilbert Phiri, Swindon. re "Everyone seems to be alluding to the unverified and clearly misplaced assumption that the racists are the minority..." .
Firstly, an assumption is by definition unverified. To spell it out to you, if it were verified it would no longer be an assumption. Secondly, why is said assumption (that the racists are the minority) "clearly misplaced"?
It's quite true that Hamilton is unpopular in Spain, but I'm as sure as I can be that it's not because he's black. Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, and Linford Christie are all popular figures here. Mike Tyson, Wayne Roonie and Eric Cantona are not, and I don't think it's because of the colour of their skin, place of birth or parentage in any of their cases.
It's their perceived character that makes each of them good or bad in public opinion.

Chris Beach, Asturias, Spain

It,s clear I,m not going to defend any attack to the dignity or integrity of any person. I hope this won,t happen again in any place, sport,....
but the serious racism insults as I concern, were provocated by an small group, not by the mayority of people. (nothing compering with your famous english footbal hooligans, insultind, hiting and breaking anything they find)

And thinking seriously, isn,t much more important , the lack of human rights along the world, (Irak-Palestinian-Israel-Afrikan wars,...than this issue with the golden poor rich Hamilton guy??
Be serious please!

Zigor, San Sebastian, Spain

Nigel Livingston, London, UK
Gides? Two years in Spain and you are not able to speak spanish?
By the way, you comments are also racists ?

Jose, Brussels, Belgium

First of all, there were french people among the public thrown out of the circuit by security corps. Should we cancell magny cours GP?

These people insulted FA too (they called him son of...). So I guess that they´re not just racist but very stupid (well, all racists are stupid but not all the stupid people are racist if you know what I mean). There were 20 people among 25.000 having this behaviour, which has no excuse or clever explanation.

I have seen Damon Hill claiming for BCN gp banning if that happens again. Seeing how do english "fans" behave when they travell, should we ban Silverstone gp? Will DH claim for the ban?

Racist behaviour should be banned from all public places (not only F1 tracks) but english reaction is way over what happened.

btw, If LH just stopped talking about FA it would help.
He could move on, as Alonso does. I am not saying LH is responsible because he´s not (just a victim) but it´s difficult to stop a fire with more fuel, or dont feed the beast

javier, Madrid,

Very quickly the Anglo media jumps into the wagon of race. A lesson in history to all of you that calls Spain a less than white country. Only half of Spain was invaded by the moors thus preveting the conquering of the rest of Europe we sttoped the invasion in our lands. tha ids the reason by Europe still a christian continent. I can read that the black legend against everyting spanish still very present in england today and by default it's former colonies. In california de word hispanic is used as an insult just because of the large numbers of spanish speaking population of the former spanish colony . But of course there is no more racism in the Anglo world any more. Spain is just as white as it's French Italian or Greek cousins.

Leon T., New Jersey, USA

I was living Chichester one year. One night i had serious problems with drunk english guys only because I am Spanish and they didn't like my black hair.
Can I say that English society is racist for that. Obviously I can't.
Come on, you find stupid people in Spain and in England as well

Cristian, Zaragoza, Spain

Having lived in Madrid for over 2 years, this type of behaviour does not surprise me whatsoever.
I saw first hand how racist the Spanish are even against the likes of "gides" like myself (Northern Europeans).
It is the mentality of a whole nation due to the Franco era. Fortunately the younger generation are better educated.
Fingers cross Hamilton shows that colour does not matter

Nigel Livingston, London, UK

For all, you have to Know that In Spain the last week was carnival and the people dress up as a joke, the best form of transgression our minds.
Stop being so hypocritical, This anecdote is use smartly to avoid that Spain have another grand prix and so many people have fall into the trap. If we have to talk about racism in Spain, we have to do it Seriously and having a a minimum idea of spanish reality.

Fernando, Madrid, Spain

Sorry Mr. Tetsuya I think that you are not inform, we have the same law as the rest of Europe. Leave alone the whales.

curro, madrid,

Garlicky Spangos! If only they knew how to speak English they might be more civilized! These minor nations need to learn from Great Britain!

Ramu Ramsingh, Delhi, India

I wonder what Mr. Alonso think of his countrymen's behavior? His silence is deafening.

Steve An, Boston, MA, USA

This is obviously a shameful situation but again (I refer to Hamilton making numerous unpunished infringements last year) I believe FIA have to share some of the blame here.
If there are two Spanish grand prix in the first place it is presumably because Spain, unlike the rest of Europe, have behaved cowardly with regard to tobacco advertisement legislation. It is presumably through a pro-tobacco stance that FIA awarded Spain a second grand prix. One should also consider that automobile production in Spain is due to foreign companies.

I also believe these incidents and the FIA LH errors are linked. I suspect some of the resentment towards Lewis in Spain is due to the very obvious preferential treatment he get from FIA. This of course can't justify this kind of behaviour from fans.

Tetsuya, Tokyo, Japan

Sir:
To those who think that they are any different from LH, or any other human being because of the color of their skin, let me say how wrong they are. It is Satanic to even entertained the though that any of us is different from the other.
I will comclude by saying, I feel rather sad for such human beings.

Jeffrey Churchill, Pierrefonds, Quebec. Canada

Everyone seems to be alluding to the unverified and clearly misplaced assumption that the racists are the minority! Just what informs this popular refrain? What are we trying to hide by insisting in almost every sentence that these low lives are in the minority?

Gilbert Phiri, Swindon, UK

I am absolutely ashamed and appalled by the behaviour of some of my countrymates.

We are a proud country and obviously not inmune to the rivalry between Alonso and Hamilton. However, there is no excuse for what happened.

I hope the spanish authorities take drastic measures to deter this from happening ever again, as these vandals are showing a side of Spain most of us abhorr.

Fernando Prieto, Oviedo, Spain

I have to say I am deeply disappointed at the lax approach that has been taken in dealing with this shameful example of the racism that is rife in Spanish sport. Although, thankfully, this is a minority, it is by no means an insignificant minority - read forums on the Spanish press websites and you will see many examples of the bare denial and counter-blaming going on in Spain, with many pointing at England's (unrelated) problems rather than admitting the problem.

There is clearly a racism problem in Spain. Without wanting to go as far as saying it is institutional, I must say that precious little is being done to stop it. How Luis Aragones' unbelievable outburst against Henry went barely punished by the Spanish authorities and largely ignored by UEFA/FIFA I do not know. The racist chants against black players occur in most football matches with foreign black players (I witnessed it at the Betis v Liverpool match). What has to happen for something do be done?

Julian Santos, Clapham, London,

I hope that this episode will have the effect of mobilising the vast majority of decent, kind and generous people of Spain to ensure it is never repeated at a Formula 1 meeting in the future.
What this very committed and dedicated young man has to tolerate in order to establish his talent would be enough to discourage most.
The finest answer to the reprehensible behaviour of a very small group is for LH to repeatedly win in Spain.

Keith, Dalsland, Sweden

Forget Iraq and Afghanistan, Spain must be the target now!!!

Ian Thomson, Santa Barbara, California, USA