Monday 10 November at 11:58 : Nov.10 (GMM) Mark Webber has joined his 2008 Red Bull teammate David Coulthard in playing down the latest racism storm triggered by Bernie Ecclestone's comments about Lewis Hamilton

Reacting to the furore sparked when Ecclestone dismissed the incident as a "joke", Coulthard last week backed the F1 chief executive, denying that the Spanish fans with blacked out faces meant that formula one has a serious problem with racism

"I'll be honest, I did think it was a joke, though the guys who did that obviously went too far," Australian Webber has now told the BBC

"Racism in our sport is totally in check, I believe," he continued

"Those guys in Spain certainly overstepped the mark but there will always be popular drivers and unpopular drivers in every race -- I don't think it comes down to race at all

"We're all on a level playing field," said Webber