Formula One: Lewis Hamilton Allegedly Called ‘Racist Slur’ by Former Champ Nelson Piquet

Formula One racer Lewis Hamilton called out retired three-time world champion Brazilian racer Nelson Piquet after Piquet allegedly used a racial slur against him during an interview last year. The interview, on a Brazilian podcast, was made public this week.

During the interview, Piquet, who won his titles in 1981, 1983 and 1987, and retired after the 1991 Australian Grand Prix, said the seven-time world champion Hamilton “played dirty” while competing in the 2021 British Grand Prix. Hamilton, who drives for Mercedes, won the race, but was involved in an incident with Belgian-Dutch driver Max Verstappen during the race that sent Verstappen’s car into the wall. Verstappen walked away from the crash, but was taken to the hospital.

Verstappen is currently dating Piquet’s daughter, Kelly Piquet.

During the interview, Piquet allegedly described the Hamilton-Verstappen incident using “an epithet that can be translated as the N-word,” the Guardian reported. The public release of the podcast comes as Formula One racers prepare to return next month to the 2022 British Grand Prix, which takes place over 52 laps of the Silverstone Circuit on Sunday, July 3, near Northamptonshire in England.

The UK’s Daily Express reported that Pique referred to Hamilton as ‘neguinho’.  The Express said the interview, released by Estadao quoted Pique as saying:

The neguinho put the car in the wrong way and didn’t let (the other driver swerve). … The neguinho put the car in the wrong way on the corner, it’s because you don’t know the curve. It’s a very high curve, there is no way to pass two cars and there’s no way you can put the car aside.

“It’s more than language,” Hamilton wrote Tuesday on Twitter in response to Piquet’s comments. “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.”

It’s more than language. 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.

— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) June 28, 2022

Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton, 37, aka Lewis Hamilton, was “awarded honorary Brazilian citizenship and is the sport’s only Black driver,” according to Reuters.

“Lewis Hamilton, a strident supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement, was knighted … by future King, Prince Charles for his services to motorsport, the investiture coming just days after Hamilton losing the Grand Prix,” Breitbart News reported in 2021. Hamilton was “made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2008 after he won his first Formula 1 championship, according to the BBC.”

In an interesting twist, given that Piquet is Brazilian and given Hamilton’s honorary Brazilian citizenship, Hamilton also tweeted in Portuguese, “Vamos focar em mudar a mentalidade,” which means, “let’s focus on changing the mindset,” the New York Post noted.

Hamilton debuted a Black Lives Matter helmet in 2020, has been an avid kneeler before Formula One races, and cited his experience as a victim of racism as the reason for his support of the organization. “Hamilton claims he was racially abused in Britain from a young age and watching the death of George Floyd led to him deciding he wanted to join the BLM movement,” Breitbart News reported.

 

Piquet has a history of “unpleasant comments” the Guardian reported, including “a defamatory accusation toward Ayrton Senna of being gay and referring to Nigel Mansell’s wife as ‘ugly.'”

Piquet is also a “supporter of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro and drove the presidential Rolls-Royce during a ceremony last year,” Reuters reported.

The 2021 Grand Prix wreck that involved Hamilton and Verstappen can be seen here, posted last year on Formula One’s Twitter page:

Verstappen and Hamilton collide!

The title rivals come together at Copse, pitching Verstappen into a high-speed crash.

The Dutchman was able to walk away but he has been taken to hospital for precautionary checks#BritishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/ol1s9dRJoa

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 18, 2021

Verstappen posted his reaction to the incident at the time as well:

Glad I’m ok. Very disappointed with being taken out like this. The penalty given does not help us and doesn’t do justice to the dangerous move Lewis made on track. Watching the celebrations while still in hospital is disrespectful and unsportsmanlike behavior but we move on pic.twitter.com/iCrgyYWYkm

— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) July 18, 2021

Several groups in the racing world have spoken in favor of Hamilton since Piquet’s comments.

“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,” Formula One said, without mentioning Piquet specifically.

Mercedes said Hamilton was “a true champion of diversity on and off track”, while motorsports governing body Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) stood behind Hamilton’s “commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion in motor sport,” Reuters reported.