Britain slams online attack on Hamilton

(GMM) The British press has reacted furiously to news that an online biography about Lewis Hamilton had been vandalised.

An unknown Spanish employee of McLaren's carmaker parent DaimlerChrysler is accused of changing the Wikipedia entry about the 22-year-old championship leader to read that Hamilton is "ugly" and a "very bad driver" whose driving style is "bizarre, dangerous and illegal".

The Daily Telegraph called the attack a "cheap shot" fuelled by "Spanish paranoia" regarding Lewis' teammate Fernando Alonso, little more than a week before the teammates' bitter battle for the 2007 title climaxes in Brazil.

Another British newspaper, the tabloid Daily Mirror, added: "Spain's Fernando Alonso has inflamed home fans claiming he is not being given equal treatment by McLaren".

Wikipedia corrected the errors and locked Hamilton's public entry until October 20, while IP logs traced the vandal to a computer located within the Daimler network in Spain.

"Investigations are still continuing," a spokesman for the German manufacturer said.