Damon Hill, the 1996 World Champion and former Sky F1 pundit, has told the “mentally unwell” trolls who abused Channel 4 presenter Lee McKenzie to “go and get some help.”

It comes after McKenzie, the long-serving F1 reporter, revealed that she has received a series of “vile” messages over her appearance during the Spanish Grand Prix weekend.

Damon Hill leaps to Lee McKenzie’s defence after ‘vile’ online comments

McKenzie has been a familiar face of F1 broadcasting in the United Kingdom for more than 15 years, joining the BBC as a pit-lane reporter in 2009 before adopting a similar role with Channel 4 from 2016.

The Ayr-born star has also covered some of the biggest sporting events on the planet for the BBC, including the Olympic Games and the Wimbledon tennis tournament.

The 47-year-old revealed earlier this week that she underwent an operation last month having “struggled with health issues for some time now.”

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McKenzie revealed that she suffered a flood of “horrific” comments online about her “appearance and weight” upon her return to the screen at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

McKenzie went on to admit that she was “furious” that she had allowed the hurtful comments to affect her, with the Scot turning off comments on her social media channels to block out the trolls.

Hill, who left his role as a Sky F1 pundit at the end of last year and now works as a pundit for BBC Radio 5 Live, has responded angrily to the abuse of McKenzie, describing the people behind the messages as “mentally unwell” and urging them to seek professional help.

Taking to Instagram’s story function, which allows images and video clips to be posted for a maximum 24-hour period, Hill wrote: “Read Lee’s post.

“To those who posted abusive messages, go and get some help.

“You are mentally unwell.”

The 64-year-old later added: “Every time you post you have a choice. Choose love, not hate.”

Hill was not the only member of the F1 community to rally around McKenzie with Natalie Pinkham, the long-serving Sky F1 presenter, also showing her support.

Pinkham has emerged as a passionate campaigner over mental health awareness over recent years since the death of her close friend Caroline Flack, the prominent UK television presenter who died by suicide in February 2020.

In a statement published to social media, Pinkham said that she was “angry” and “sad” at the abuse of McKenzie.

And she revealed that Flackstock – the annual music festival co-founded by Pinkham in memory of Flack, who rose to fame by presenting such shows as The X Factor and Love Island – is to partner with the FIA’s United Against Online Abuse campaign.

Pinkham said: “Online abuse needs to be regularly and rigorously called out.

“Our friend Caroline Flack paid the ultimate price, taking her own life after the most abhorrent and relentless online hate.

“As her friends, we vowed to stand up to the trolls.

“Today I learnt that my mate Lee McKenzie has been subjected to it, which makes me angry, sad, but most of all more determined than ever.

“At Flackstock we are partnering with the FIA through their United Against Online Abuse campaign to counter online abuse with a research project, development of a safeguarding app and mental health support to those in need.

“More on all of that soon.”

The trolling of McKenzie follows a series of high-profile cases of online abuse of F1 drivers over recent weeks.

Yuki Tsunoda, the Red Bull driver, found himself abused online – with some of the content racist in nature – after an incident with Franco Colapinto at last month’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Meanwhile, Colapinto’s Alpine predecessor Jack Doohan was forced to call for people to “stop harassing my family” after losing his seat to the Argentine driver.

More recently, rising F1 star and McLaren junior Alex Dunne was criticised after triggering a pile up at the start of a race in Monaco.

On Thursday, F1 and its immediate feeder categories, Formula 2 and Formula 3, issued a joint statement along with the FIA on the subject of online abuse.

It read: “On behalf of our Teams and Drivers, F1, F1, F3 and the FIA, through their United Against Online Abuse campaign, firmly condemn abuse and harassment of any form.

“We’ll continue to collectively act upon and report abuse to social media platforms.

“Whether you are a fan or a part of the motorsport world, we are all driven by passion.

“At the heart of it all, there are humans.

“We urge everyone to remain respectful towards the athletes and their teams.”

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