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Footage has emerged of another instance of Nelson Piquet using a racial slur in reference to Lewis Hamilton, along with an apparent homophobic comment.
Earlier this week, Piquet was condemned after footage from late 2021 emerged of him discussing the clash between Hamilton and Max Verstappen at Silverstone last year.
He called Hamilton, who is F1’s first and only Black driver, “neguinho” – which can translate directly to the racial slur “little Black man” depending on the context and the subject.
Piquet’s argument was that the word in question is a common Portuguese colloquialism used as a synonym for ‘guy’ or ‘person’.
He apologised for the “ill-thought-out” remark but also wanted to “condemn any suggestion that the word was used by me with the aim of belittling a driver because of his skin colour”.
But it was widely regarded to be racially abusive towards seven-time world champion Hamilton as many have pointed out that Piquet used it to criticise Hamilton and did not use the word to refer to Verstappen.
And now, footage has emerged of a new interview – from 2021 as well – in which Piquet uses the same word again in reference to Hamilton.
Em novo vídeo, Nelson Piquet repete termo racista para se referir a Lewis Hamilton e faz ataque homofóbico ao britânico.
Trecho de entrevista gravada em novembro de 2021 foi divulgado pelo site Grande Prêmio na noite desta quinta-feira (30). pic.twitter.com/o76Ge0Snrx
— Metrópoles (@Metropoles) July 1, 2022
In response to a question about his fellow ex-F1 driver Keke Rosberg, Piquet dismissed the ability of the 1982 world champion and also his son Nico, who was Hamilton’s team-mate at Mercedes for several years.
Piquet referenced Nico Rosberg winning the world title in 2016 and suggested “the neguinho” must have been too busy “giving ass” – a homophobic slur implying Hamilton was preoccupied having sex with other men.
Three-time world champion Piquet is set to be banned from the F1 paddock because F1 says “discriminatory or racist language is unacceptable in any form and has no part in society”.
