Scuderia Ferrari Moneagsque driver Charles Leclerc has sent a message of support to Mercede’ Lewis Hamilton after three-time F1 world champion Nelson Piquet used a racist term to describe the Mercedes driver. The incident took place last November during an interview which was broadcast in Brazil on Monday night, as Nelson Piquet described Lewis Hamilton as “the neguinho” on two occasions when he was asked about the 37-year-old’s clash with Max Verstappen in the 2021 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
“Knowing Lewis since I arrived in Formula 1, he has always been extremely respectful to me and everyone that he meets,” Charles Leclerc wrote on Twitter on Tuesday evening – “Those values should be the standard towards anybody around the world. The comments made towards Lewis should not be tolerated, and we should continue to push for a more diverse and inclusive sport. We need to remove discriminatory behaviour and racist language in any form from not just our sport, but our society as well.” – the Ferrari driver added.
Nelson Piquet’s statements were made as he was taking part in an interview in Portuguese with Motorsport Talk’s Ricardo Oliveira. During the interview, the three-time Formula 1 world champion said Lewis Hamilton was to blame for causing the Silverstone incident on lap one which ended Max Verstappen’s race and led to him being taken to hospital for precautionary checks
“The neguinho put the car in the wrong way and didn’t let [the other driver swerve],” Piquet said. “The neguinho put the car in the wrong way on the corner – it’s because you don’t know the curve. It’s a very high curve – there is no way to pass two cars and there’s no way you can put the car aside. He did [Verstappen] dirty. His luck was that only the other one was gone.”
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The comments have been widely vilified across the sport in he last few hours, with Formula 1, the FIA and Mercedes releasing statements off the back of them. And Hamilton, himself, has called for action to be taken.
