Having declared last week that the racism controversy had saddened him, Lewis Hamilton on Tuesday was quoted as saying he intends to “rise above” the sort of abuse he faced ten days ago in Spain.
For the first time since avid Fernando Alonso fans donned black makeup, scrawled abusive messages on banners and shouted racial insults at him in Barcelona, the McLaren driver on Tuesday resumed Spanish pre-season test duties at Jerez.
His first day of Jerez action passed without incident and he even set the fastest lap of the day, but Hamilton insists that the recent events did not leave him daunted.
Hamilton said he often turns to the song ‘Rise Above It’, which featured in Cool Runnings; a movie about how a few Jamaican athletes rose above ridicule and entered a bobsled team in the 1988 Winter Olympics.
“I think, as with everything being thrown at you, you try and take it on the chin and ride above it,” the Briton, whose grandparents come from the Caribbean island of Grenada, is quoted as saying by the Antigua Sun.
“(In) that film, there is a song ‘Rise Above It’ and for me, it’s useful for any tough time — you might have to just rise above it,” Hamilton said.
