Though it has yet to issue an official announcement on the subject, it is understood that following recent events at the Barcelona test, the FIA is to launch an anti-racism campaign, which will be called 'Racing Against Racism', to be followed, in time, by a similar scheme in rallying.

Whilst any scheme aimed at preventing scenes similar to those witnessed at the Circuit de Catalunya last week has to be applauded, one cannot help but note that once again the FIA is being re-active as opposed to pro-active.

The FIA came in for a lot of criticism in the days following the Barcelona incident(s), with the media in Spain and Britain leading the way. While the British media called on the sport's governing body to act, and to be seen to act, the Spanish media claimed that it was only a handful of idiots who were involved, and that the whole affair was being blown out of all proportion.

The fact is, all that's required is a handful of idiots, for as we know from hard experience, it doesn't take too long before they are followed by another 'handful', intent on copying the first lot, and so on.

Whether the FIA is deadly serious about preventing any further such incidents, as opposed to indulging in a knee-jerk reaction to appease the British media, remains to be seen. Any initiative aimed at preventing our sport following the route of so many others, however, is to be welcomed, and at least the FIA has shown a little more backbone than the world governing body of another sport, the International Cricket Council.

In reality, the bad feeling that some Spanish race fans have towards Lewis Hamilton has little to do with the colour of the youngster's skin, and more to do with the perception that he and his team colluded in preventing Fernando Alonso from winning a third successive Formula One World Championship last season.

When Alonso joined McLaren, on the back of successive title wins with Renault, it was fully expected that, providing the Woking team could supply him with the necessary equipment, the highly talented Spaniard would continue his winning ways.

However, it seems fair to say that nobody - and that includes team boss, Ron Dennis - had banked on Lewis Hamilton being so competitive and consistent straight out of the box.

Despite Dennis' best-intentioned claims that his team could deal with the situation and that there would be no favouritism, sceptics merely pointed to the events of the late '80s, when Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna were partnered at the Woking team.

While Alonso claimed to have brought 0.6s to McLaren, Hamilton got on with the job of leading the World Championship, which he did from Spain - Alonso's home race - right up to the season finale, in Brazil.

It is natural that Fernando will have felt aggrieved, for at Renault he was clearly number one, while at McLaren, despite assurances that there was total parity, he will have seen the obvious relationship that Dennis enjoys with Hamilton, having supported the youngster from his days in Karting.

Meanwhile, in Spain and in Britain, the media was busy fanning the flames, lauding one driver whilst constantly taking digs at the other, and of course, much of this was swallowed hook, line and sinker by the fans.