Three-time Formula 1 champion Nelson Piquet was fined $945,000 on Saturday for racist remarks made towards British driver Lewis Hamilton, who he referred to as “neguinho” (“little black”) in an interview.
A courtroom in Brasilia dominated that these “intolerable” remarks constituted a “serious offense to the fundamental values of society.”
Piquet, 70, was fined for “collective moral damages” with the cash being donated to teams combating towards discrimination.
World champion in 1981, 1983 and 1987, Piquet used the phrase “neguinho” in an interview in 2021 when he criticized Hamilton’s position in a conflict with Max Verstappen, his daughter Kelly’s boyfriend, on the British Grand Prix the identical 12 months.
Hamilton had condemned “archaic mindsets,” and the Mercedes driver stated he had been “surrounded by these attitudes and targeted (my) whole life.” He is the one Black driver in F1 and obtained honorary citizenship from Brazil final 12 months.
“These are more than words,” stated Hamilton.
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 describe ‘guy’ or ‘person’ and that it was never intended to offend,” he insisted.
However, the courtroom was not satisfied, ruling that “the absence of intention could not justify discriminatory behavior toward minorities.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com
