The FIA should keep to its core business

The FIA has chosen to mix into the racial abuse affair that was initiated by some "fans" at the most recent track test session at Barcelona. Thinking it over, one can seriously ask himself what the FIA is up to now...

The saga was started during the weekend testing at Barcelona. Several so-called fans were verbally abusing Lewis Hamilton from the grandstands. The circuit officials of the Circuit de Catalunya tried their best to respond to the situation. They decided to put up fences around the McLaren area in the paddock and removed all abusive banners from the grandstands. During the weekend, extra security guards had to deal with the 'fans'.

The source of these aggravations is largely to be found in the in-team battle at McLaren last season where both drivers were visibly unhappy with each other and with the team's handling to them. However, it was Hamilton who most recently put oil on the (dying) fire as he claimed "Alonso showed me how not to behave in F1". While both drivers threw dirt at each other ever since Monaco 2007, they have now split teams and such remarks are highly inappropriate.

Although one can expect some reaction from the fans, the abuse as seen crossed the line and indeed should be banned where possible.

A single day after the incident, the FIA released a statement noting that they were appalled by the behaviour of some of the spectators. We at F1technical were similarly disgusted by the events but, as it appears, think similar to Bernie Ecclestone who is convinced this behaviour was not exposed by real fans and is normally a one-off.

Having that in mind, I am wondering why the FIA finds it necessary to interfere with this and move on to launch a 'Racing against racism' campaign. The campaign calls on "all those involved in motor sport to support our new campaign, from recent world champions to the next generation of potential champions". Despite it being a good idea, it will certainly require more thinking. Previous anti-racism events and campaigns have never proven to have a huge effect on people and have sometimes only drawn attention to the problem, resulting in even more of such offences.

And while the federation is investing in such campaign, I would be very interested to know when and how the FIA plans to solve the more important issues that have plagued F1's popularity in the last decade.