Lewis Hamilton has called for ‘grandees’ in Formula 1 – such as Bernie Ecclestone and Sir Jackie Stewart – to silence and say that ‘enough is enough’ after Nelson Piquet’s racist remark.
The seven-time world champion responded to Piquet calling him a variant of the n-word and Ecclestone’s defense of Vladimir Putin as a “first-class person.” Stewart said last week that Hamilton, 37, should retire.
During the toxic build-up to Sunday’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Hamilton said: “I don’t know why we keep giving these older voices a platform.
“They speak for our sport, but we want to go elsewhere and they are not representative of who we are now and where we want to go.
“If we want to increase our audience in the US and South Africa, we need to give the younger people a platform. They are more representative of today’s time and who we are trying to be. It’s not just about one person, or the use of that term, but the bigger picture.
Lewis Hamilton, pictured left arriving today at Silverstone Circuit ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix and at a press conference today, has wondered why ‘older voices’ are being platformed amid an ongoing racism storm in Formula 1
In a bizarre interview on Good Morning Britain, former Formula 1 owner Bernie Ecclestone, 91, called 69-year-old dictator Vladimir Putin a “first class person” and “sensitive”
“These older voices, unconsciously or consciously, disagree that people like me should be in this sport. Discrimination should not be projected.
“I don’t think there has been a day in the past few weeks where some of the older people who are not in our sport or have been irrelevant to our sport for decades have tried to say negative things and put me down. But I’m still here and still standing strong and trying to do my job and promote diversity.’
Ecclestone, 91, ran Formula 1 for four decades and turned it into a multi-billion dollar company before losing day-to-day control in 2017 when Liberty Media bought the company.
Ecclestone said on ITV’s Good Morning Britain yesterday that he would ‘take a bullet’ for Putin, whom he befriended when arranging the 2014 Russian Grand Prix.
Of Stewart, 83, he recently said: ‘It’s time to step down. He’s got music, he’s got culture, he likes clothes and the rag trade would definitely suit him.
“I’m sure he will be very successful because he’s made a huge amount of money – rightly so, because he’s been the best of his time.”
Nelson Piquet, speaking on a Brazilian podcast (pictured) about an incident between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton at Silverstone last year, has been heavily criticized for a racist remark directed at the Briton. Piquet has since come out to claim the wording had no racial intent
Hamilton also slammed on Bernie Eccleston and Sir Jackie Stewart ahead of the British Grand Prix
Earlier this week, comments came to light from another three-time world champion Piquet, 69, in which he referred to Hamilton as a ‘neguinho’, a Portuguese term that can be translated as ‘n*****’. Piquet apologized, claiming it was a casual and innocent phrase. But Formula One Group, the sport’s commercial rights holders, have suspended him for life.
They have not attempted to ban Ecclestone, although yesterday they strongly distanced themselves from his comments, saying: “Bernie Ecclestone’s comments are his personal views and are in stark contrast to the modern values of our sport.”
Hamilton continued: “I am incredibly grateful to everyone who has supported within the sport, especially the drivers.
Lewis Hamilton told a press conference ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix that Nelson Piquet and Bernie Ecclestone ‘are not representative of who we are in the sport now’
“It has been two years since many of us got down to our knees at the first race in Austria and we still face challenges.
“I’ve been on the receiving end of racism and criticism and archaic stories and undertones of discrimination for a long time, so there’s nothing new for me.” Referring to Ecclestone’s interview, Hamilton added: “There has to be some responsibility. You know what you’re going to get with that and I don’t know what the purpose of GMB is, if they were to try to create and distribute here in the UK.
“We don’t need any more of it, to hear from someone who believes in war, and the displacement of millions of people, and the killing of thousands of people, and supports that person.” [Putin] who does that.
‘It’s beyond me. I can’t believe I heard that today. It affects all those people there and all the people around the world. This is going to take us decades back in time, and we have yet to see the real burden of the pain.”