Nelson Piquet: Lewis Hamilton praises Brazilian government for fining former F1 champion over offensive comments

Footage emerged last year of two separate clips that featured three-time F1 world champion Nelson Piquet using racist and homophobic slurs when talking about Lewis Hamilton; a Brazilian court last week ruled that Piquet, 70, must pay $953,050 (£778,846)

Lewis Hamilton addressed Piquet’s fine ahead of this weekend’s Australian GP in Melbourne

Lewis Hamilton has praised the Brazilian government for fining former Formula 1 world champion Nelson Piquet for making racist and homophobic comments about the Mercedes driver.

Footage emerged last year of two separate clips that featured the 70-year-old Brazilian using racist and homophobic slurs when talking about seven-time world champion Hamilton.

After charges were brought against Piquet, a three-time F1 champion, by four human rights groups, including Brazil’s National LGBT+ Alliance, a Brazilian court last week ruled that he must pay $953,050 (£778,846).

“Back when it happened I made comments on it – I still believe that we generally shouldn’t be giving people that are just full of hate a platform,” Hamilton said on Thursday ahead of the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

Nelson Piquet has been ordered to pay $953,050 (£778,846) by a Brazilian court

“I’d like to acknowledge the Brazil government. I think it’s pretty amazing what they have done in holding someone accountable, showing people that it’s not tolerated.

During an interview in November 2021, Piquet used a racist slur referring to Hamilton when commenting on the Mercedes driver’s British Grand Prix crash with Max Verstappen.

Hamilton called for action to change “archaic mindsets” after footage of the interview surfaced on social media last June.

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Former head of communications at McLaren Matt Bishop suggests that more drivers should support Hamilton in fighting inequality and injustices

Piquet apologised to the British driver and said his comments had been mistranslated. Piquet’s daughter Kelly is Verstappen’s partner.

In another clip which emerged later, Piquet used racist and homophobic language against Hamilton in a podcast interview, when describing how the British F1 driver missed out on the 2016 championship to Nico Rosberg.

Hamilton, who was awarded honorary Brazilian citizenship last June, is the sport’s only Black driver.

Hamilton has used his platform to promote human rights causes, and earlier this week used his Instagram account to condemn a new bill passed in Uganda that leaves citizens who identify as gay at risk of life imprisonment.

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Hamilton says he felt like he could not talk about issues surrounding diversity in Formula One until 2020, and has now begun to see changes within the sport

“Racism and homophobia is not acceptable and there is no place for it within our society,” Hamilton added.

“I love that they (the Brazilian government) have shown that they stand for something.

“I wish that more governments out there would do that, such as you’ve just seen in Uganda, and there are other countries in Africa and the Middle East – there’s a lot of that can be learned from that.”