The McLaren Formula One team has pledged to investigate historic social media posts allegedly made by an employee that called Lewis Hamilton a ‘p****’ and a f***ing ‘w*****’. The social media account allegedly sent out a string of abusive posts about the seven-time Formula One world champion from their now-deleted private Twitter and Facebook accounts.
One from December 2020, when Hamilton tested positive for Covid ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and had to complete a 10-day quarantine before returning for the race, read: ‘What a f***ing w***** he truly is! Couldn’t stand seeing someone do well!’ That came after Hamilton was replaced by his now team-mate George Russell at the Sakhir Grand Prix in Bahrain. Russell led for most of the race before the Mercedes pit crew fitted the wrong tyres to his car, meaning he eventually finished down in ninth.
The account also allegedly replied ‘f***ing p****’ to a tweet from the official Formula One account that tagged Hamilton last year. When Hamilton was awarded a knighthood, they wrote: ‘Oh f*** off! For having the fastest car on the grid. What a w*****.’ And when Hamilton was disqualified from qualifying at the Brazilian Grand Prix in November last year, the staff member said: ‘F***ing get in!!! F*** off you p****.’
Hamilton won the Formula One World Championship with McLaren in 2008. When the tweets came to light on Friday night, the official McLaren F1 account responded: ‘We consider these comments to be completely at odds with our values and culture at McLaren. ‘We take the matter extremely seriously and are investigating it as a priority. All of the employee’s private social media accounts appeared to have been suspended or deleted as of Saturday.
