F1 champ Lewis Hamilton has found himself in the firing line after an image of him spraying champagne in the face of a podium girl was widely circulated after his win at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Roz Hardie, the CEO of anti-sexism group Object, called on Hamilton to apologise for what she described as a selfish act.

“The photographs appear to show that the woman is not just being splashed, but that the champagne is being very specifically directed into her face, which does not look like a voluntary piece of horseplay on her part,” Hardie told the Mail Online.

“If this if the case we think Lewis Hamilton should apologise for his actions and think carefully about how he behaves in the future. For most people, it would be apparent that she is not enjoying it.

“It is surely a very difficult position to be a grid girl and she would have had little option but to stand there and take it. That is something of which he should be aware. But instead, he appears to have abused her position.

“It’s unfortunate that a great victory has been marred by what appears to be selfish and inconsiderate behaviour.”

Lewis Hamilton. What a gold-plated arse pic.twitter.com/U87FIUAEs6 — Camilla Long (@camillalong) April 13, 2015

But others have defended the Mercedes driver, saying champagne spraying was just part of Formula One.

Drivers traditionally soak each other while celebrating on the podium — as this photograph of Hamilton and teammate Nico Rosberg shows.

Louise Richardson, a 22-year-old UK-based racing driver, declared it wasn’t a “sexism issue” on her personal Twitter account.

“If you choose to go on/near a podium after a race, expect to get covered,” she wrote.

Others on Twitter agreed.

@camillalong Public Notice: anyone not wanting to be sprayed w/ champagne c/o Lewis Hamilton had best avoid #F1 podium's for approx. 7-8yrs. — Late Brakers (@LateBrakers) April 13, 2015

Lewis Hamilton being labelled sexist for spraying a grid girl in the face with champagne whilst celebrating his win... Get a grip morons 👊✊💦 — Emily Chambers (@chambss_) April 13, 2015

Some crazy women are out in force to criticise Lewis Hamilton for spraying someone with champagne on the podium. You're actually mental. — Baked Brit (@BakedBrit1) April 13, 2015

The reaction continued a controversy-filled few days for the reigning world champion since claiming his second win of the season.

Mercedes held emergency talks with their bickering drivers after Rosberg furiously criticised Hamilton’s tactics after the race.

With relations on a knife-edge before this weekend’s Bahrain GP, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has moved swiftly to prevent things spiralling out of control — as they did last year when Rosberg drove into Hamilton in Belgium.

“It needs to be contained without any escalation,” he said, flatly denying Hamilton had tried to wreck Rosberg’s chances. “Lewis didn’t do it on purpose. We have cleared that now — there wasn’t any animosity.” Hamilton’s victory was an eighth in 10 races dating back to last season for the Briton, who dominated all weekend before winning for a record fourth time in Shanghai.

Once again he simply had too much pace for Rosberg, who appears to be unravelling under the pressure, berating mechanics after missing out on pole position and demanding that Hamilton speed up during Sunday’s race.

“It’s not my job to look after Nico’s race,” Hamilton shrugged. “I just focused on myself.” That prompted Rosberg to snipe: “It’s now interesting to hear from you, Lewis, that you were just thinking about yourself.”

— with AFP