Former three-time F1 champion Nelson Piquet recently came under fire for using a derogatory term to refer to Lewis Hamilton. The context was in description of the events at Silverstone last year, where Hamilton was awarded a ten second penalty.
However, without Verstappen on track, he was able to fight back and win the race. Piquet using the term ‘neguinho’ for Hamilton, which translates to ‘little n****er’. It is a stark violation of the racist mentality that all of sport is trying to eradicate.
Nelson Piquet criticised for derogatory remarks against Hamilton
Nelson Piquet compared the events at Silverstone to Ayrton Senna’s manoeuvre on Alain Prost back in 1990, in Suzuka when the title was on the line.
“What happened at Silverstone? The ‘neginho’ [Hamilton] put the car up the inside and drove off,” Piquet said.
“Senna didn’t do that. Senna went straight on. Do you really think he wasn’t going to spin?
“He was like ‘I’m going to do it here anyway’. The ‘neginho’ put the car in and went because there was no way two cars were going to go through that corner. He played dirty.”
The seven-time World Champion has hit back at Piquet for his remarks, “It’s more than language,” he said.
“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.”
