(Brasilia) Former Formula 1 driver Nelson Piquet was fined US$945,000 on Saturday for racist remarks made against Briton Lewis Hamilton, whom he called “neguinho” (little black guy). in an interview.
A court in Brasilia ruled that the “intolerable” remarks constituted a “serious offense to the fundamental values of society” and sentenced the former three-time world champion to pay five million reais for “collective moral damages”. The money will be donated to associations fighting against discrimination.
Nelson Piquet, 70, F1 world champion in 1981, 1983 and 1987, used the word “neguinho” in a 2021 interview with Motosports.com in which he criticized Hamilton’s role in a clash with the Dutchman Max Verstappen, her daughter’s boyfriend, at the British Grand Prix the same year.
Hamilton, seven-time world champion, then denounced “archaic attitudes” that “had to change”. “These are more than words,” he had said.
Piquet later issued a “wholehearted” apology. “What I said was wrong and I’m not going to defend myself, but I want to clarify that this term has often been used in Brazilian Portuguese to mean ‘guy’ or ‘person’ and it never meant object of offending,” he said.
This argument did not convince the court, which ruled that “the absence of intent could not justify discriminatory conduct towards minorities”.
