"It’s not enough, it’s unacceptable"- Lewis Hamilton criticizes F1's 'We Race As One' campaign after abusive behavior from fans at 2022 Austrian GP

Lewis Hamilton has come down hard on F1 after reports of multiple incidents of racial, sexual, and homophobic abuse from the crowds in the grandstand. On the first two days of the F1 Austrian GP, multiple spectators shared horrific accounts on social media where they were subjected to abuse.

F1 was quick to put out a statement that such acts would not be tolerated. Lewis Hamilton, too, expressed disgust at such incidents taking place in the grandstands and called for immediate action against people found guilty of inappropriate behavior.

The seven-time world champion also took aim at F1's "We Race As One" campaign and demanded that the sport take more action rather than issue tokenistic statements. Lewis Hamilton also talked about how there weren't any funds allocated to any program after the "We Race As One" campaign.

He said:

“I’ve not given huge amount of thought in terms of coming up with solutions for what the sport should do. It goes back to some of the messaging we talked about in terms of the stuff we also need to do here within the sport, which is commit more to diversity and inclusion within our industry, because that then reflects the direction we are going in and it also often reflects what our fanbase looks like. It’s time for action.”

He added:

“We Race As One was all good and well, but it was just words. It didn’t actually do anything. There was no funding towards anything, no programme to actually create change and spark that conversation. So we definitely need to utilise our platforms, as I just mentioned, but we really have to step up and actually really start actioning some of the things we are saying. Just saying ‘it’s not enough, it’s unacceptable’ is not enough.”

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Lewis Hamilton scored his third consecutive podium at 2022 F1 Austrian GP

The F1 Austrian GP was kind to the Mercedes driver as Lewis Hamilton found himself on the podium for the third weekend in a row. The Mercedes driver did not have the pace to match Red Bull or Ferrari but with Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz out of the race, the path became clear for Hamilton to score his third consecutive podium. Speaking to the media after the race, he said:

“It was tough in the Sprint yesterday, but today felt better. We had decent pace at different points of the race, even if I was racing a little bit in no-man’s land. It’s been a bit of a rough weekend for the team - but I’m grateful we got third and fourth today. That’s great points, and we have improved the car. Now we need to keep chipping away to get back to the front.”

The Mercedes driver will be hoping to continue this momentum after a rough start to the season.