Nelson Piquet has been banned from Silverstone after being accused of using racially abusing Lewis Hamilton.
The British Racing Drivers Club, which owns and operates the British Grand Prix circuit, has moved swiftly to suspend Piquet, who is an honorary member of the exclusive club. And it will formally kick him out at a board meeting in a week's time.
As the Formula 1 roadshow arrived at the Northamptonshire track, the BRDC announced the three-time Brazilian world champion would no longer be welcome in motor racing on these shores. In a statement, the BRDC said: “The BRDC Board of Directors has noted that, in a Brazilian podcast last November, Nelson Piquet Senior, an Honorary Member of the BRDC, described Lewis Hamilton using a racially offensive expression in Portuguese. The apology issued yesterday by Mr Piquet Snr has also been noted.
"In view of the BRDC’s zero-tolerance policy towards any act involving or suggesting racism, the BRDC Board has concluded that Mr Piquet Snr's use of racially offensive language to describe a fellow BRDC member (and seven-times World Champion) is unacceptable and represents conduct that is wholly inappropriate for an Honorary Member of the BRDC, notwithstanding his subsequent apology.
"Accordingly, we have advised Mr Piquet Snr that his membership has been suspended with immediate effect. Following the Club's due process, it is anticipated that the Board will terminate Mr Piquet Sr's membership at a board meeting to be held after the required seven-day notice period."
The sport’s governing body, the FIA, is yet to announce definite sanctions but is also expected to ban Piquet. Piquet apologised for any offence had been cause after using a racial slur to describe Hamilton in a podcast. But he claims the word is not offensive in his homeland Brazil.
In a statement, Piquet said: "I would never use the word I have been accused of in some translations. I strongly condemn any suggestion that the word was used by me with the aim of belittling a driver because of his skin colour.
“I apologise wholeheartedly to anyone that was affected, including Lewis, who is an incredible driver. But the translation in some media that is now circulating on social media is not correct. Discrimination has no place in F1 or society and I am happy to clarify my thoughts in that respect."
Meanwhile, Hamilton has been told to "ignore" the comment by ex-F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone, who bizarrely jumped to Piquet's defence. "Nelson would never go out of his way to say anything bad, certainly," claimed the 91-year-old. "I think what probably happened, knowing Nelson as I know him, as his daughter is the girlfriend of Max Verstappen, probably after seeing the accident, he probably exploded and carried that forward."
