The Brazilian ex-pilot, three-time Formula 1 world champion, has reacted after the scandal that arose as a result of his comment about Lewis Hamilton in which he referred to the Briton as “black” while describing the accident with his son-in-law, Max Verstappen, at Silverstone 2021.
The Formula 1 He has lived quite convulsive hours in a period in which the category is relentless in the face of any hint of racism or xenophobia in its environment.
On this occasion the protagonist has been Nelson Picket Sr., ex-pilot and three-time world champion. Last year, after the British Grand Prix in which Max Verstappen, boyfriend of his daughter Kelly Piquet, suffered a serious accident after colliding with Lewis Hamilton, he offered his impressions of the accident on Brazilian television.
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In it, Piquet referred to Hamilton by calling him «neguinho», which is usually translated as “black”. Now, these statements have received media coverage and have caused a good part of Formula 1 to react against the former Brabham, Williams and Benetton driver, among others.
In fact, Formula 1 issued an official rejection statement, as well as Mercedes, various teams and drivers on the grid and Lewis Hamilton himself. Now, after strong criticism, the protagonist of this matter has reacted publicly and officially with the following statement:
“I would like to clarify the stories circulating in the media about a comment I made in an interview last year.
What I said was poorly thought out, and I’m not defending it, but I’ll clarify that the term used is one that has been used widely and historically colloquially in Brazilian Portuguese as a synonym for ‘boy’ or ‘person’ and I never intended to offend.
Excerpt from the interview in which Nelson Piquet uses the word “neguinho” in reference to Lewis Hamilton.
I would never use the word I’ve been accused of in some translations (Editor’s note: “negrata”). I strongly condemn any suggestion that the word was used by me with the aim of belittling a pilot because of the color of his skin.
I sincerely apologize to everyone who was affected, including Lewis, who is an amazing driver, but the translation in some media now circulating on social media is not correct. Discrimination has no place in F1 or in society and I am happy to clarify my thoughts on this.”.
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Juri Vips expelled from Red Bull
Parallel to this matter, there has been another event also related to comments with an alleged racist tint, in this case during a live stream on Twitch in which Juri Vips participated.
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The Estonian pilot, so far member of Red Bull’s young driver program, has been expelled from it as a sign of the company’s zero tolerance against racism. Until now, Vips competed in Formula 2 and was a development driver for the Formula 1 team. His team, Hitech, has confirmed that it will continue to have Vips for the rest of the season.