Elson Piquet has apologized for recent language use against Lewis Hamilton, but insists there was no racist intent.
The three-time F1 champion referred to Hamilton as “neguinho” (which translates as “little n*****”) in an old interview aired this week.
Piquet, 69, is not a regular and the bosses of the sport have taken no action against the Brazilian over his comments. But it was thought that he would not be allowed to attend the Great Britain Grand Prix at Silverstone this weekend or any other grand prix this season in 2022 unless he apologised.
Piquet has now issued a statement acknowledging that his comments were misconstrued but claimed they were not racist, stressing that the word used has different connotations in Brazil.
“I would like to clarify the stories circulating in the media about a comment I made in an interview last year,” he said.
“What I said was ill-considered, and I’m not going to defend it, but I’ll clarify that the term used is one that has been commonly and historically used in Brazilian Portuguese as a synonym for ‘man’ or ‘person’ and was never intended to to offend.”
Piquet, whose daughter Kelly is Max Verstappen’s girlfriend, is no stranger to controversy. He referred to another world champion, compatriot Ayrton Senna, who died in 1994, as the “Sao Paulo taxi driver” and when asked who the greatest Brazilian F1 driver was, he said: “I’m still alive.”
Hamilton said “archaic mindsets need to change” in the wake of Piquet’s racist remarks against him.
And Formula 1 said in a statement: “Discriminating or racist language in any form is unacceptable and has no place in society.
“Lewis is an incredible ambassador for our sport and deserves respect. His tireless efforts to increase diversity and inclusion are a lesson to many and something we are committed to in F1.”