F1: Nelson Piquet Racially Abuses Lewis Hamilton

Three-time F1 world champion Nelson Pique has reportedly racially abused Lewis Hamilton as per reports by Brazilian media. Piquet is not only a 3-time world champion but also is the father of Kelly Piquet the girlfriend of reigning world champion Max Verstappen whose prime rival was Lewis Hamilton in the 2021 world championship. Piquet made comments regarding last year's British GP when Hamilton crashed into Max Verstappen causing a crash that was more than 50Gs in force landing the Dutchman in the hospital. It was a seminal point in one of the most acrimonious world championship battles of all time and since then both drivers and their teams haven't seen eye to eye. 

"The [racial slur] put the car in and left it because there was no way to get past two cars at that corner. He drove dirty," the 3-time world champion reportedly said. The 69-year-old won three world titles in the 80s with Williams and is considered to be one of the all-time greats, but his star faded with the emergence of Ayrton Senna who became the darling of the Brazilian crowd. His son also competed in F1. 

"Discriminatory or racist language is unacceptable in any form and has no part 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 at F1," said F1. 

"We condemn in the strongest terms any use of the racist or discriminatory language of any kind," the statement read. Lewis has spearheaded our sport's efforts to combat racism, and he is a true champion of diversity on and off track. Together, we share a vision for diverse and inclusive motorsport, and this incident underlines the fundamental importance of continuing to strive for a brighter future," said the Mercedes F1 team in a statement. 

"Let's focus on changing the mindset. It's more than language. These archaic mindsets need to change and have no place in our sport. I've been surrounded by these attitudes and targeted my whole life. There has been plenty of time to learn. Time has come for action," he tweeted. 

Hamilton also quote tweeted a user writing "imagine" to, "Who the f**k is Nelson Piquet?' then closed twitter".