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F1 staff subjected to racist and homophobic abuse while at Aston Martin



A Formula 1 worker who was repeatedly racially abused by colleagues at the Aston Martin F1 team has told Sky News the sport must do more to confront racism in motorsport. sports.

Aidan Louw, 25, of mixed race and born in South Africa, has worked as a plasticizer, making parts of cars driven by Sebastian Vettel at the base of the prestigious F1 team outside. next to Silverstone.

The verbal abuse began after he joined the group as a supplier’s agency contractor in February of this year.

“Before I entered my working environment, that’s when I was told ‘see if you have a problem with the way we speak here, it’s just the way we say it’.”

Mr Louw claimed the abuse then began almost immediately with a variety of racist, derogatory nicknames.

“I’m not called Aidy…or anything like that. I’m called [racially offensive slurs] – that’s what I was mentioned. “

“Finally, I’m done with what’s going on.

A dual citizen of both South Africa and the United Kingdom, Aidan holds two passports. He said the abuse included an insult from the apartheid era and was also deeply offensive.

In addition to the issue of racism, Aidan also suffered from same-sex abuse: “I revealed to someone that I had a boyfriend during my teenage years and that’s it – in a split second everything turned state thai…

“As soon as they discovered that piece of information, they tried to scratch me to break me down as a man, an individual, and a human being.”

While Formula 1 has very publicly demanded an end to racism in the sport, this season Sir Lewis Hamilton has been forced to continue calling out discriminatory incidents.

The seven-time world champion was angered by a racial slur that former F1 driver Nelson Piquet was accused of using in a podcast.

Last month, Red Bull’s reserve driver, Juri Vips, was fired after he sent racist messages online.

At the Austrian Grand Prix last Sunday, several fans said they suffered racial abuse in the stands – there were also reports of sexist and homophobic behavior from a small number of supporters. F1 household.

Aston Martin F1 says Aidan’s contract has been terminated due to “poor performance” and “poor timekeeping” and is unrelated to the discrimination he experienced.

Mr Louw accepts his performance and punctuality suffered but he believes this is due to the abuse he has faced.

In a statement to Sky News, Aston Martin Racing said: “AMR and its suppliers operate a zero tolerance policy towards racism, homophobia and all forms of discrimination. .

“We take all allegations of unacceptable behavior seriously, including thoroughly investigating such claims and penalizing any individuals who fail to comply with our standards.

“In this case, the complainant was rightly believed, his complaints were immediately dealt with and appropriate sanctions were imposed in accordance with our zero tolerance policy.

“We are in constant discussions with him.”

Sky News understands that individuals involved in racist and homophobic abuse no longer operate there.

At the age of 16, Aidan started participating in motorsport as a beer mug and toilet cleaner at Silverstone racetrack.

He then went on to work in the F1 supply chain before joining the Formula 1 team of Williams, Alpine and then McLaren – he said he enjoyed working at each of those three teams.

“Up until this point, I feel honestly that this is all I was going to do,” he said, “I feel this is all I really have – a purpose.

“I don’t want to be seen as a victim, that’s not who I am but this is the truth [abuse] is not true, it’s not just me who is a victim, but my community, my community is the victim.

“We’re not asking to be given those opportunities, which would be removed from our plates simply because of ethnic origin or sexual orientation.

“I’m not asking for it, nobody’s asking for it – we’re asking for an equal opportunity.

“The fact is I know there are kids out there who have dreams of doing this just like me… and if that’s a lie, what’s the point? What’s the point?

“There’s no sport. It doesn’t matter how many sponsors put money into it.

“Whatever the consequences, publicly for me, I’m willing to accept because this message is bigger than mine,” he added.

Sky Sports News has reached out to Formula 1, who declined to comment while dialogue continues between Mr Louw and Aston Martin.

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