Lewis Hamilton: Racism is an issue in F1

Mercedes’ British driver Lewis Hamilton at the press conference for the weekend’s Portuguese Grand Prix in Portimao on Friday. Pic/AFP

World champion Lewis Hamilton said on Thursday he is ready to join this weekend's widespread sports boycott of social media in a stand against racism even if Formula 1 is not convinced. "I think I probably will follow and support this weekend," said Hamilton on Thursday, at the sidelines of the Portuguese Grand Prix.

A coalition of football organisations including the English Football Association and Premier League revealed they would not post on their social media channels this weekend and the boycott has grown, with other sports bodies, sponsors and broadcasters joining in. On Friday, UEFA also said it would follow suit. "For me, it's clear and clearly in this sport that racism continues to be an issue," added Hamilton, who boasts 22 million followers on Instagram and 6.3 million on Twitter.

"And I think social media platforms do need to do more to combat this and so I am fully supportive of the initiative and if me also doing it helps put pressure of those platforms in order to help fight against it, I am happy to do so."

Hamilton leads Verstappen in 2nd practice
Lewis Hamilton posted the fastest time in the second practice for the Portuguese Grand Prix, giving Mercedes a 1-2 after his teammate Valtteri Bottas topped the first session on Friday. The seven-time F1 champion was .143 seconds ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen, and .344 clear of Bottas in warm but slightly cloudy conditions in Portugal's Algarve region. Earlier, Bottas was .025 seconds quicker than Verstappen, and .198 seconds ahead of Verstappen's Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez.

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