Oct.17 (GMM) The British press has returned an accusation of racism to Spain as teammates Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso's bitter championship rivalry reaches its climax in Brazil this weekend.

Amid increasingly hostile formula one relations between Spain and Britain, the head of the Spanish motorsport federation on Tuesday was quoted by the newspaper El Publico as describing Hamilton's British supporters as "racist".

"It is perfectly normal for a British team and British fans to want to succeed in formula one," a translation of Carlos Gracia's comments reads, "but it is ironic that the racists in England are having to rely on a coloured pilot."

Britain's conservative Guardian newspaper slammed Gracia's outburst as "suitably crass", while the tabloid Sun widened the brawl by accusing unnamed "Spanish racists" of describing Hamilton as a "black man of ****" on the internet.

Gracia will be a guest of McLaren at Interlagos this weekend, while Spanish reports reveal that he met at Madrid's Torrejon de Ardoz airport with team boss Ron Dennis on Tuesday to calm the waters ahead of the Sao Paulo showdown.

Dennis was reportedly in town to play a round of golf with Emilio Botin, the boss of his team's biggest Spanish sponsor, Santander.

Gracia told the Spanish newspaper Marca that he had received "threats" from Alonso's supporters who believe he has not done enough about the perceived inequality at McLaren in 2007.

He also said his comments about Hamilton and Britain had been misinterpreted.

"What I meant was England has been looking for a formula one idol for years and no matter who he was they were going to give him all their support.

"There was no racist element to what I said," said Gracia.