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Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton has recently been the target of both racial and homophobic slurs doled out by Nelson Piquet, three-time champion of the sport in the 1980s. In June, a clip from an interview for a podcast in 2021 was released of Piquet using a racial slur to describe Hamilton. Following the release of the clip, the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) and F1 bosses both issued statements condemning racism within today’s society.
Piquet, whose daughter is the partner of Max Verstappen, has reportedly been banned from the paddocks for life. He has also released a statement admitting his words were “ill thought-out”, but hit back against allegations that they were racist, claiming they had been mistranslated. His argument was given little credence, and now looks all but hollow as further footage has emerged.
The Brazilian website Grande Premio said it had obtained a full copy of the podcast’s transcript in which Piquet repeated the racist slur and used homophobic language when discussing his former rival Keke Rosberg, his son Nico Rosberg, and Hamilton - who drove with the younger Rosberg.
Piquet’s statement did not seem to convince F1 to revoke his ban from the paddock. These recent details are unlikely to help his case, with
F1 bosses had no intention of revoking Piquet’s ban despite his statement. and these further details will ensure he never returns to the F1 paddock, with F1’s stance remaining that “Discriminatory or racist language is unacceptable in any form and has no part in society.”
In preparing for the race at Silverstone, Hamilton addressed the issue, describing his frustration that many former drivers had outdated mindsets and were thus out of touch with reality; “I have been on the receiving end of racism and that negative and archaic narratives and undertones of discrimination,” he said. “I am not sure why we are continuing to give these older people a platform. They are speaking on the sport but we are looking to go in a different direction. It’s the bigger picture.”
Hamilton also tweeted: “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.”
Many other F1 drivers have expressed their support for Hamilton, such as Charles Leclerc who said that racism has no place in the sport and that F1 should push to be a “more diverse and inclusive sport”.