Nelson Piquet is set to attend a court hearing regarding his racist abuse of Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton - while the three-time Formula 1 world champion could also be handed a £1.5million fine.
Piquet was filmed referring to Hamilton with Brazilian-Portuguese racist language along with a homophobic slur. The footage resurfaced from an interview he gave in a podcast last November back in Brazil, but it only gained traction late last month.
The 69-year-old was discussing the epic rivalry between Hamilton and Red Bull star Max Verstappen, who eventually went on to win the 2021 world championship in dramatic and controversial circumstances. Piquet was commenting on the incident between the duo at last year’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
The duo battled for the lead heading into Copse corner on the opening lap and Verstappen crashed out into the barriers at high speed. Hamilton was ultimately blamed for the incident by Piquet, whose daughter Kelly has been dating the Dutchman for a number of years.
However, Piquet launched into a horrendous torrent of racist abuse aimed at Hamilton. In a longer clip, the Brazilian also uses awful homophobic slurs against the Brit.
Piquet later apologised, although he attempted to justify the use of such abhorrent language. Regardless, a judge in Sao Paulo has ordered an investigation into his comments after a human rights group pressed charges against the former racer for causing moral damage to black and LGBTQ+ people.
The charges include a claim for Piquet to pay around £1.5m in damages. Piquet will have 15 days to state his case to judge Felipe Costa da Fonseca Gomes of the Distrito Federal court.
Both F1 and Mercedes have vehemently condemned Piquet’s comments, with the sport insisting discriminatory language is "unacceptable in any form and has no part in society". The Silver Arrows added: “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.”
Hamilton responded by posting an inspirational message online about the gravity of the comments. Taking to Twitter, the seven-time world champion wrote: “It’s more than language.
“These archaic mindsets need to change and have no place in our sport. I’ve been surrounded by these attitudes and targeted my whole life. There has been plenty of time to learn. Time has come for action.”
