An F1 marshal who took to social media to tweet that he ‘hoped’ Lewis Hamilton would suffer a similar crash to Romain Grosjean’s horrific accident at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix has quit working at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
The controversy comes after the opening practice session on Friday saw a missile strike a nearby Aramco oil facility.
The incident occurred nearby to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit and Yemen’s Houthi rebel group have since taken responsibility and claimed to be behind the attack.
The racing action continued during second practice, although the start was delayed. Following the session, drivers and team principals met with F1 bosses Stefano Domenicali and Ross Brawn to discuss the issue at hand but an agreement was reached to go ahead with the race weekend - including qualifying on Saturday, which saw Red Bull's Sergio Perez secure the first pole position of his career.
While this all occurred, the incident regarding the marshal went down. It undoubtedly added to the controversy surrounding this weekend's action.
The marshal wished an accident upon Hamilton and called the seven-time world champion a 'dog' in response to his desire to help the nation's human rights record. Replying to an image of Hamilton on Twitter, user @Heem4U said: “I hope he has an accident like Roman accident in Bahrain.”
Another message fired at Hamilton in Arabic read: “The Saudi authorities do not respond to dogs. If a person saw him, they would have responded to him.”
Grosjean’s accident at the 2020 Bahrain event was horrific to watch, with the Swiss-Frenchman - who was experiencing his 10th season in F1 - crashing through the barrier. His Haas split in half as a result of the impact and exploded into flames, leaving Grosjean needing an airlift to the hospital with broken ribs and burns.
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Twitter users @Heem4U had posted videos of the AlphaTauri pitstop and photos of F1 trophies onto his account from the circuit in Jeddah. However, after the FIA were flagged about his social media activity, race organisers confirmed the individual was been removed from his post.
The marshal has since issued an apology for his actions and confirmed he is no longer working at the race. In Arabic, he posted a message: “I offer my apologies to the Saudi Motorsports and Motorcycle Federation. And for driver Lewis Hamilton. On my previous tweet, I announced my withdrawal from the ring [race].”
The 22-race 2022 campaign - which is expected to return to 23 races in the near future once a Russian Grand Prix replacement is found - continues this weekend with the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on March 27.
