The world of motorsport strongly condemns the derogatory way in which the three-time world champion, Nelson Piquet, referred to Lewis Hamilton in his last interview. He dared to call him “black” twice while explaining the incident that the Briton had with Max Verstappen last year at Silverstone.
The Brazilian Piquet was recently interviewed and they addressed the issue of what occurred at the British Grand Prix GP in 2021 which was won by Hamilton, after the unfortunate collision that the Englishman had with Verstappen on the first lap and that ended with the Dutchman out of competition.
“What happened at Silverstone? The black (Hamilton) put the car and left. Senna didn’t do that. Senna went straight ahead. Do you really think he wasn’t going to turn? He was like, ‘I’ll do it here anyway.’ The little black man got in the car and left because there was no way two cars could go through that curve. He played dirty. He was lucky that only the other driver (Verstappen) was screwed”, said Piquet making a comparison with the definition of the world championship 1990 between Senna and Alain Prost.
Lewis Hamilton responded forcefully on his Twitter account.
It is more than a language. These archaic mentalities must change and have no place in our sport. I have been surrounded by these attitudes and directed all my life. There has been a lot of time to learn. The time for action has come
Lewis Hamilton
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
“Let’s focus on changing the mentality”, had said the multiple British Mercedes champion, who asks for action after so many similar situations of non-tolerance and disrespect for skin color .
The International Automobile Federation (FIA) ruled on the matter and condemned Piquet’s statements.
“The FIA strongly condemns any racist or discriminatory language and behaviour, which has no place in sport or in society in general. We express our solidarity with Lewis Hamilton and fully support his commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion in motorsport.”
– Formula 1 and Mercedes condemned Nelson Piquet’s racist comment on Lewis Hamilton
– Andy Ruiz Jr. works hard to return to the ring and shows an abysmal physical change from what he had when he was champion
– Cuba qualifies as “serious indiscipline” Andy Cruz’s illegal exit attempt