Formula One and the Mercedes team have condemned the three-time world champion Nelson Piquet for using racist language when speaking about Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton has said “the time has come for action” after a video emerged with the three-time world champion Nelson Piquet using racist language when speaking about the British driver. Piquet used the term in an interview that was conducted last year but which was released publicly on Monday night.
Piquet was speaking in November to Motorsport Talk’s Ricardo Oliveira in Portuguese about Hamilton’s clash with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the F1, which has a clear anti-racist platform under the We Race As One banner, swiftly condemned Piquet. It issued a statement that read: “Discriminatory or racist language is unacceptable in any form and has no part in society. Lewis is an incredible ambassador for our sport and deserves respect. His tireless efforts to increase diversity and inclusion are a lesson to many and something we are committed to at F1.
Piquet, now 69, won the world championship in 1981, 1983 and 1987. His daughter Kelly Piquet is Verstappen’s partner. The Brazilian driver has a record of issuing unpleasant comments, including, while he was driving, a defamatory accusation toward Ayrton Senna of being gay and referring to Nigel Mansell’s wife as “ugly”. Last year Piquet drove as a chauffeur to Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, at the country’s Independence Day.