Lewis Hamilton has said he is satisfied with the fine imposed by Brazilian justice on three-time Formula 1 world champion Nelson Piquet for making racist comments against him.
The Brazilian, world champion (1981, 1983 and 1987), was sentenced last week to pay $945,000 by a court in Brasilia for having called Lewis Hamilton, 'negrito' (little black, ed) during an interview in 2021 The court found these "intolerable" remarks constituted a "grave offense to the fundamental values of society" and sentenced Piquet, now 70, to a fine for "collective moral damage", with the money going to associations fighting against the discrimination.
Piquet had made these remarks when commenting on the rivalry between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.
His daughter Kelly is the partner of Verstappen, himself world champion in 2021 and 2022. "I think hateful people shouldn't be offered a platform to express themselves," said Hamilton, the first black driver in F1 history , at a press conference ahead of the Australian Grand Prix this weekend.
"I would like to thank the Brazilian government and I find it truly extraordinary that they have held someone accountable for his words demonstrating that this could not be tolerated - continued the Mercedes driver - racism and homophobia are not acceptable and have no place in our society and I'm very happy that they have demonstrated that."