Nelson Piquet apologises to Lewis Hamilton over racial slur about F1 driver
The Briton condemned Piquet after comments from November resurfaced this week
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Nelson Piquet has apologised to Lewis Hamilton after racist language used to refer to the seven-time world champion resurfaced.
The Brazilian, a three-time Formula 1 world champion, maintains there was no intent to make any racial connotations and has accused some media of mistranslating the remarks, which were made last November.
“I would like to clear up the stories circulating in the media about a comment I made in an interview last year,” the 69-year old said.
“What I said was ill thought out, and I make no defence for it, but I will clarify that the term used is one that has widely and historically been used colloquially in Brazilian Portuguese as a synonym for ‘guy’ or ‘person’ and was never intended to offend.
“I would never use the word I have been accused of in some translations. I strongly condemn any suggestion that the word was used by me with the aim of belittling a driver because of his skin colour.
“Discrimination has no place in F1 or society and I am happy to clarify my thoughts in that respect. I apologise wholeheartedly to anyone that was affected, including Lewis, who is an incredible driver, but the translation in some media that is now circulating on social media is not correct.
Hamilton has called for action to be taken against Piquet over his comments when describing the Mercedes star following his crash with Max Verstappen at last year’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Piquet is the father of Verstappen’s partner Kelly Piquet with a history of controversial comments and statements, including during his career when he questioned Ayrton Senna’s sexuality, labelling his rival “the Sao Paulo taxi driver”.
Hamilton has also called for “archaic mindsets” to change and urged F1 to “focus on changing the mindset.”
While F1 released a statement to condemn the language used: “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.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments