Lewis Hamilton releases statement on Nicholas Latifi abuse following Max Verstappen drama

LEWIS HAMILTON has offered his support to Nicholas Latifi following the horrific abuse he suffered in the aftermath of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton has passionately called for social media companies to do more to try and combat the abuse people suffer on their platforms after fellow F1 driver Nicholas Latifi revealed that he had received death threats following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Latifi inadvertently found himself at the centre of the controversial finale to last year’s F1 season, with his crash causing a dramatic series of events which ultimately led to Max Verstappen overtaking Hamilton on the final lap of the race to win the Grand Prix and world title.

Latifi revealed earlier this week that he was so worried about the death threats he received as a result of his crash, that had been forced to hire his own personal security when he and his girlfriend visited Winter Wonderland in London.

“It might sound silly to some people but at the end of the day you don’t know how serious people are,” the 26-year-old said at Williams’ car launch.

“All it needs is one drunk fan at an airport, or you bump into someone who is having a bad day and they are intoxicated under the influence of something and they have these really extreme opinions. It takes just that one-in-a-million person.

“I was back in London after the race and I had security with me when I went to Winter Wonderland with my girlfriend.

”You have to take the threats seriously because you don’t know what might happen and it is just an unfortunate reality of the world we live in and there were extreme death threats which went way over the line.”

Latifi also revealed that Hamilton got in touch with him to offer his support.

“In terms of the support I got from it afterwards, Lewis did send me a message just a few days before I released the statement.

“Obviously I won’t go into details of what he said. I did get some messages of support from other team members at Mercedes as well.

“Obviously the whole outcry of support on social media from multiple drivers, teams across so many different disciplines was really nice to see, encouraging to see.

“Obviously, everyone agreed with the whole sentiment and messaging.”

When asked about Latifi’s comments, Hamilton called on the social media companies to do more, saying: “Ultimately, I don’t think there has been a huge change or shift, or enough work that has been done by these social platforms.

“We still have to apply pressure for them to make changes. Mental health is a real thing and on these social platforms, people are experiencing abuse in a way that no one deserves and that should never be tolerated.

“They are able to make changes but they don’t seem to do it quick enough. So I think we just need to continue to apply pressure.

“I was in touch with Nicholas. He has my full support and I know how difficult it can be in those situations. I think it’s important for him to know that he has support from people around him.

“On another side of things, you can see that there is so much passion within this sport. That’s what really makes this sport so great – there is so much passion.

“But we have got to channel that in a positive way, not a negative.”

Credit: Express.co.uk,Getty Images,CN