Aston Martin came under fire as former employee reveals of racism/homophobia situation in the F1 team, people who have been removed now.
In a special interview with Sky News, Aidan Louw – hailing from South Africa – worked as a laminator building parts of the Aston Martin cars driven by Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll. The abuse problem started around February of this year.
Louw revealed that people in the team started with racist and even homophobic comments immediately. The latter started after he revealed to some of his friends in the team that he had a boyfriend in his teen years.
“Before I even walked into my working environment that’s when I was told ‘look if you’ve got a problem with how we speak here, it’s just how we speak’,” revealed Louw. “It went from brownie to darkie – I wasn’t referred to as Aidy…or anything like that. I was called n** n** and brownie – that is what I was referred to.
“It was towards the end of the duration that I had finally processed what was happening. It had taken me shift cycle after shift cycle of abuse after abuse, words going from n** n** and brownie to outright n***** when I am being called a n***** that’s where I draw the line, that’s where I go no.
“I disclosed to someone that I had a boyfriend in my teen years and that was it – in that split second everything switched. As soon as they found out about that sliver of information that was it, they were trying to claw me down to break me down as a man, as an individual and a human,” summed up Louw.
Talking of his past, he revealed that he started working as a cleaner at Silverstone circuit and then moved to work in the supply chain side for F1 teams like Williams, Alpine and McLaren where he said he loved working without facing any issues.
“Up until this point, I felt like this was honestly all I was meant to do,” he said, “I felt like this was all I really had – a purpose. I don’t want to be viewed as a victim, that’s not who I am but the fact is this (abuse) is not right, it’s not just me that’s the victim it’s my community, my community is the victim.
“We’re not asking to be given those opportunities, things to just be dropped on our plate just because of ethnic origin or sexual orientation. I am not asking for that, nobody is asking for that – we are asking for an equal opportunity. The fact is I know there are kids out there who have got dreams to do this the same as me…and if it’s a lie, then what’s the point? What is the point?
“There is no sport. It doesn’t matter how many sponsors chuck money into it. No matter what the repercussions are, publicly for me, I’m willing to accept because this message is bigger than me,” summed Louw, who is no longer working at Aston Martin anymore as he was dropped due to poor performance and poor timekeeping.
Louw reckons his work was affected due to the abuse and he couldn’t keep up. At the same time, Aston Martin also removed the people involved with racism and homophobia. “AMR and its supplier operate a zero-tolerance policy with regard to racism, homophobia and all types of discrimination.
“We deal with any allegations of this unacceptable behaviour seriously including thoroughly investigating such claims and sanctioning any individual who falls short of our standards. In this case, the complainant was rightly believed, his complaints were immediately acted upon and appropriate sanctions were imposed in line with our zero-tolerance policy. We are in ongoing discussions with him,” summed up the Aston Martin spokesperson.
