F1 community condemns racial abuse by Nelson Piquet towards Lewis Hamilton

First-of-all let us make our stand very clear, we at CarThrust despise any racist acts or any act of racial abuse in any form whatsoever. We shared a very similar thought when we posted the news about Juri Vips and his rather shocking tale of using racist slangs during a live game stream.

In a new incident though, Sir Lewis Hamilton has been racially abused and called the N-word by former three time F1 World Champion Nelson Piquet. Piquet senior has often been considered as one of the greatest ever in driver of his era. This act of racial abuse has become viral where Mr. Piquet rather aggressively recalled last year’s Silverstone incident between Max and Lewis thereafter going on to racially abuse Lewis. The irony lies in the fact that we had Nelson Mandela fight for racism and then we have Nelson Piquet being racist.

This isn’t the first time Nelson Piquet has made ghastly comments and diminished his non-existen off-tract reputation. In fact, Nelson Piquet had a very poor off-track reputation and is invited on to podcasts and shows for controversies like this one. During the time when Senna lived, Piquet often questioned his sexuality and called Ayrton Senna as “the Sao Paulo taxi driver.” He also had a history of making offensive comments about Nigel Mansell and his wife. Piquet’s daughter kelly Piquet, formerly married to Russian F1 driver Daniil Kvyat, is now the girlfriend of current f1 world champion Max Verstappen.

This is not the first time Sir Lewis Hamilton has faced racially abuse though. The 7-time world champion has been quite explicitly abused on social media frequently. Moreover, Hamilton faced racial abuse openly as a result of his rivalry with Spaniard Fernando Alonso during the 2008 F1 season as Spanish fans wore dark makeups, chanted racial slurs, wore black wigs and T-shirts that read “Hamilton’s family.” In fact, Alonso wasn’t exactly going against any of those actions by stating that Lewis invited the abuse with what he said. When Hamilton stated that he faced abuse during Monza as well that season, Alonso brushed it off by saying Hamilton was exaggeratting and that “It’s sport.”

Formula 1 has come a long way and Lewis Hamilton has been spearheading the diversity and inlcusivity flag aggressively in F1. He is supported by many drivers including his good friend Sebastian Vettel. Formula 1 gave a statement condemning Piquet’s behaviour, “Discriminatory or racist language is unacceptable in any form and has no part in society. 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.”

Hamilton’s team Mercedes also stated that, “We condemn in the strongest terms any use of racist or discriminatory language of any kind. Lewis has spearheaded our sport’s efforts to combat racism, and he is a true champion of diversity on and off track. Together, we share a vision for a diverse and inclusive motorsport, and this incident underlines the fundamental importance of continuing to strive for a brighter future.”

Formula 1’s governing body further said, “The FIA strongly condemns any racist or discriminatory language and behaviour, which have no place in sport or wider society. We express our solidarity with Lewis Hamilton and fully support his commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion in motor sport.”