Nelson Piquet ‘would not be welcome’ in F1 paddock after Lewis Hamilton slur, Damon Hill claims
Former world champion Hill labelled Piquet’s use of racist language to describe Lewis Hamilton as ‘beyond the pale’
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Your support makes all the difference.Damon Hill insists Nelson Piquet would not be welcome in the Formula One paddock after the Brazilian’s use of racist language to describe Lewis Hamilton.
Three-time world champion Piquet twice used racist language in an interview last November when describing the Mercedes star as he gave his verdict on Hamilton’s crash with Max Verstappen during last year’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Piquet’s resurfaced epithets were condemned by Hamilton, Formula 1 and Mercedes among others and it has been reported that the 69-year-old’s access to the paddock on race weekends could be revoked if he doesn’t issue a public apology to Hamilton.
Yet 1996 world champion Hill says Piquet’s remarks are “beyond the pale”, adding he is not sure what sort of apology would even be sufficient.
Asked by reporters if Piquet should be banned from the paddock, Hill said: “I don’t think he’d [Piquet] be very welcome if he did turn up. I’ve always felt Nelson was a bit of an acquired taste and I didn’t really acquire the taste. This is beyond the pale now.
“Even allowing for possible misunderstanding in the difference of languages between the Brazilian term and here, certainly it’s something that demands an apology but I’m not sure what sort of apology would be sufficient.
“It’s very sad really. Poor Lewis for having to put up with all this constantly. It’s blighted his experience of being a Formula One driver more than we’ll ever understand. We just wish the world was full of nicer people really.”
Seven-time world champion Hamilton called for action to be taken and when questioned further on what Formula One should do next, Hill emphasised that the sport must not “just nod in the direction of political correctness”.
“Everyone knew the [F1’s] response was directed at quotes attributed and confirmed by Nelson,” he said. “The first statement from the FIA didn’t actually reference that – it responded in a broad way.
“We have to make sure the sport is not just nodding in the direction of political correctness. It has to be absolutely clear. For a long time I’ve wished that the sport upheld and made it abundantly clear it upholds certain values. The argument against that was that they couldn’t be political – the response was we’re not a political organisation.
“But this is not politics. This is decent human values and surely a sport should be about those things. It should be about people coming together to show our best qualities.”
In response to Piquet’s comments, Hamilton was forthright. “It’s more than language,” he wrote. “These archaic mindsets need to change and have no place in our sport. I’ve been surrounded by these attitudes and targeted my whole life. There has been plenty of time to learn. Time has come for action.”
In an earlier tweet, Hamilton wrote in Portuguese, “Let’s focus on changing the mindset.”
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