Mosley: racism already seen last year

International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Max Mosley told Britain's Sunday Times newspaper that he had been told by Hamilton's father of incidents at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai last October.

"Anthony Hamilton told me that there were some people in China who were also appallingly abusive; not Chinese fans, but people who had travelled from Spain," he said.

The FIA warned Spanish circuits and the Spanish authorities after Hamilton was insulted by the crowd at the Circuit de Catalunya this month that the country risked being stripped of its races if such behaviour continued.

Mosley reminded Spanish fans that they too could be punished.

"If they went to Australia and did something like that, they could get arrested and we would know their names and passport numbers and they wouldn't get into another country," he said.

"We will do everything we can to stamp this out, we will do whatever it takes.

"If, as appears to be the case, a very small number of people are involved, it ought to be possible to stop it immediately," he added.

"If it isn't, then we have sanctions and we could pull the Grand Prix."

A spokesman for the FIA said the governing body was developing an anti-racism campaign which it planned to roll out early in the season, which starts in Australia on March 16.

A likely launch date would be the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona in April.

Hamilton, the sport's first black driver, has become a hate figure in Spain because of his rivalry with former McLaren teammate and double world champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso, who now drives for Renault.

Alonso complained last season that McLaren were favouring the 22-year-old rookie, who finished overall runner-up to Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen in a sensational debut season.

Mosley was shocked that racism should hit Formula One, saying it went against the whole ethos of the sport.

"One of the things that most attracted me to motorsport was that nobody cared about your background, race, gender or religion; the only thing that mattered was how quick you were," said the Briton, whose father Oswald was leader of the pre-war British Union of Fascists.

"In that respect, it has always brought competitors and supporters from different countries together without a hint of trouble."