Nelson Piquet apologizes to Lewis Hamilton, says it was ‘badly thought out’

Nelson Piquet, 69, decided to speak out after the confusion with Lewis Hamilton. The three-time Formula 1 world champion apologized to the English driver for calling him a “nigger” in an interview in November last year when commenting on an accident between Hamilton and his son-in-law Max Verstappen. The Brazilian denied that he had the intention to offend and even cited a mistake in the translation of the term racist. Piquet claimed that the word is used colloquially in Brazil as “cara” or “pessoa”.

“What I said was poorly thought out, and I won’t defend myself for it, but I will make it clear that the term is one of those widely and historically used colloquially in Brazilian Portuguese as a synonym for ‘cara’ or ‘person’ and never intended to offend,” Piquet began in his official statement released this Wednesday (29).

He commented that he would never use any word to disparage a pilot or anyone else because of their skin color. He continued to condemn the translations used for the term “neguinho”, as the controversy reached the international media.

“I apologize to everyone affected, including Lewis, who is a great driver, but the translation in some media and now circulating on social media is not correct. Discrimination has no place in F1 or society. I am happy to make it clear. my thoughts on it,” he concluded.

According to the BBC, after the negative repercussion of the Hamilton comment, Piquet began to suffer the consequences. According to journalist Andrew Benson, Piquet will not be able to return to the paddock [local que abriga as equipes, veículos, oficiais de prova e convidados durante as corridas] category so soon. Formula 1 and Mercedes published this Tuesday (28) statements condemning racist and discriminatory speeches against seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton. sport.

In an interview with journalist Ricardo Oliveira in November last year, Piquet criticized Hamilton for not taking his foot off on the first lap of the British GP. The fact happened in July last year, when he and Verstappen were vying for the lead in the competition. Piquet, who is the Dutchman’s father-in-law, boyfriend of his daughter Kelly, even compared the crash of the cars with the confusion that had happened with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost at the start of the Japanese Grand Prix in 1990.