Formula 1 and Mercedes have condemned Nelson Piquet Sr. after he used a racial slur to describe Lewis Hamilton.
In footage unearthed on social media, the three-time world champion was heard using the n-word twice against the British driver during an interview he gave with Motorsport Talk’s Ricardo Oliveira in November last year.
More specifically, Piquet used the term as he criticised Hamilton for his role in the crash with Max Verstappen at the 2021 British Grand Prix.
The Dutch Red Bull driver is currently dating Kelly Piquet, Nelson’s daughter.
“The ‘n-word’ put the car in the wrong place for the corner because you don’t know the curve. It’s a very fast curve, there is no way to pass two cars and there’s no way you can put the car alongside,” he said, as quoted by the Express.
O Canal Enerto postou no YouTube um corte de uma entrevista que Nelson Piquet deu em 03/11/2021 para Ricardo Oliveira. No trecho, Nelson comenta o acidente entre Lewis e Max em Silverstone. Quando vai se referir a Lewis, Piquet utiliza uma palavra de conotação racista. Confira: pic.twitter.com/FzKCJaPZPI
— Fofocas do Paddock (@fofocaspaddock) June 22, 2022
“He did [Verstappen] dirty. His luck was that only the other one was gone.”
Piquet also then compared the high-speed contact, which resulted in a Max suffering a 51G impact with the barriers, to Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost’s infamous collision at the 1990 Japanese GP.
“Senna didn’t do that,” he added “Senna went straight. Straight. He [Hamilton]? Never, no, he went like: ‘Here, I hate him anyway’.”
In response to the footage, F1 and Mercedes have both condemned the racist language used toward the seven-time world champion.
“Discriminatory or racist language is unacceptable in any form and has no part in society,” F1 said in a statement.
“Lewis is an incredible ambassador for our sport and deserves respect. His tireless efforts to increase diversity and inclusion are a lesson to many and something we are committed to at F1.”
Mercedes then added their reaction via Twitter:
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) June 28, 2022
