Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton racially insulted by Nelson Piquet

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Brazil's Nelson Piquet (archive image)

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imago sportfotodienst / imago images/ZUMA Wire

A racist derailment by three-time world champion Nelson Piquet towards superstar Lewis Hamilton causes a stir in Formula 1.

In a statement on Tuesday, the racing series condemned discriminatory language as “unacceptable in any form”.

Hamilton was "an incredible ambassador for our sport and deserves respect," it said.

Previously, older statements by the Brazilian Piquet had appeared, with which he had degraded Hamilton in an interview.

The statements made by the Brazilian Piquet come from last November, but were only picked up publicly in the run-up to Hamilton's home race at Silverstone next Sunday, including by "CNN Brasil" and "Globo". 

Accordingly, Piquet had evaluated the serious accident between Mercedes driver Hamilton and later world champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull) in Silverstone 2021 in a podcast.

According to Piquet, a mistake by Hamilton was the reason for the crash.

Piquet made disparaging comments about Hamilton's skin color, describing the Mercedes driver and seven-time world champion as "Neguinho".

Piquet didn't respond at first

The previously leading Verstappen was eliminated because of the accident, Hamilton won the Grand Prix despite a time penalty.

Piquet initially did not respond to a request from CNN Brasil.

The world association Fia and the Mercedes team also made statements.

"We condemn any use of racist and discriminatory language of any kind," said the racing team.

Hamilton, 37, is leading the sport's fight against racism and is a "true champion of diversity on and off the track."

However, the name Piquets did not appear in any of the three messages on Twitter.

»Now is the time to act«

Hamilton responded via Twitter at noon.

"Let's focus on changing the way of thinking," wrote the record world champion initially in Portuguese, Piquet's native language.

It's not just about racist language, he added: "These outdated ways of thinking have to change and have no place in our sport." He has been surrounded by such attitudes all his life, he is a target: "There was a lot of time to to learn.

Now is the time to act.«

Piquet is the father of Verstappen's partner Kelly Piquet.

During his playing days, he was repeatedly noticed by insulting statements about competitors or teammates.

A year after the controversial Silverstone incident, Formula 1 returns to the UK for the tenth round of the season at the weekend.

The race starts on Sunday at 4 p.m.

ngo/dpa/sid