Lewis Hamilton has said Formula 1 should ignore “voiceovers” and reject racism as it focuses on being more inclusive.
Piquet, who is the father of Max Verstappen’s partner Kelly Piquet, was on a Brazilian podcast last November talking about the collision between Hamilton and Verstappen during the 2021 British GP when he used a racial offensive expression in Portuguese.
It is reported that the word used by the 69-year-old is equivalent to or similar to the word N.
Comments have just come to light and Formula 1 issued a statement supporting seven-time champion Hamilton before he responded.
Piquet apologized Wednesday and said his comments were “badly thought out,” but denied any racial intent.
Former F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone today defended Piquet, saying he was surprised Hamilton had not “rejected” him and defended the invasion of Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ahead of the British GP on Thursday, Hamilton faced the media for the first time after Piquet’s comments appeared.
Without mentioning the name Piquet or Ecclestone, Hamilton said, “I don’t know why we keep giving a platform to these bigger voices because they talk about our sport and we’re looking to go to a completely different place. And it’s not. Rep, I think , who we are now as a sport and where we are planning to go “.
“These old voices are, you know, unconsciously or consciously, they don’t agree that people like me, for example, should play a sport like this, they don’t agree that women should be here,” he said. added.
Hamilton had already posted on social media that “archaic mindsets need to change” in response to Piquet, 69, and expanded on Silverstone.
Image: Lewis Hamilton (L) responded to Nelson Piquet’s comments
“I’ve been a recipient of racism, criticism, negativity, archaic narratives and discrimination for a very, very long time, and there’s nothing particularly new to me,” said the seven-time F1 champion.
“It’s more about the big picture.
“I don’t know why we continue to give a platform to these bigger voices.
“They talk about our sport and we are looking to go to a completely different place. If we are looking to grow in the US, other countries, South Africa, we need to look to the future and give a platform to the younger ones, who are more representative of the current era.
“It’s not just an individual, it’s not the only use of that term, it’s the big picture.”
At the media conference, Hamilton said discrimination “is not something we should project and promote, giving a platform to divide people.”
And he added: “We have to bring people together, we are all equal.
“It’s not helpful, the comments we’re seeing from some people. I don’t think there’s been a day when the elderly, who haven’t been relevant to our sport for decades, don’t say negative things and trying to make me drop.
“But I’m still here, I’m still strong, I’m focused on my job and I’m trying to drive diversity and inclusion in our organization.”
Asked if he had lost respect for those “bigger voices,” he said, “I’ve always tried to take the path, I’ve always tried to be respectful of these individuals.
“But as I said before, why do we give these guys a platform? They’re not with the times, it’s clear they’re not willing to change.”
He continued: “In these times of discrimination and micro-aggression, in today’s world, it’s just useless and it’s creating more division.
“I love how Michelle Obama says,‘ when they go down, they go high, ’so I try to keep doing that, I get inspired by people like that.
“I’m still here. It won’t deter me from what I think is right and from doing what I love, which is working in this sport.”
Hamilton is encouraging F1 to do more to expand the diversity and inclusion of sport, and is working with its Mercedes team to fund projects to promote more female participation in car racing and engineering scholarships for students. blacks with a focus on car racing. Today they announced the first grants.
Meanwhile, Piquet has been suspended today from his honorary membership in the British Racing Drivers ’Club (BRDC), which owns and manages the Silverstone track used for this week’s Grand Prix.
The BRDC remarked that Piquet’s use of “racially offensive language to describe a BRDC member is unacceptable and represents totally inappropriate conduct for an honorary BRDC member, despite his subsequent apology.”
He added that his board was expected to cancel membership in Piquet at an upcoming meeting.