What did Nelson Piquet say? Former F1 champion allegedly used racist slur against Lewis Hamilton

Former F1 driver Nelson Piquet reportedly called seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton a “little n****r” during a conversation. The Brazilian was talking about the massive accident involving the Mercedes driver and reigning world champion Max Verstappen during the 2021 F1 British Grand Prix. Although the incident took place in November last year, it has only recently resurfaced online.

In an interview with Motorsports.com, Piquet supposedly said:

“The little n****r [Lewis Hamilton] put the car in and left because there was no way to pass two cars on that corner. He made a joke. Lucky for him, only the other one [Max Verstappen] got f****d up.”

The racist comments were apparently made in light of the collision between the two 2021 title contenders, which ended with Verstappen in the wall, while Hamilton went on to win the race.

F1, Mercedes, and the FIA have subsequently come out with statements condemning the incident, with the motorsport governing body stating:

The FIA strongly condemns any racist or discriminatory language and behaviour, which have no place in sport or wider society. We express our solidarity with Lewis Hamilton and fully support his commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion in motorsport.

Incidentally, Nelson Piquet is the father of Max Verstappen's girlfriend, Kelly Piquet. The duo have been together for quite some time now, with Kelly going public with their relationship on New Year's Eve in 2021.

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Mercedes encouraged by Lewis Hamilton's 2022 F1 Canadian GP podium

Lewis Hamilton has had a visibly tough year in 2022 with new regulations and new team dynamics now that Valtteri Bottas has been replaced at Mercedes by George Russell. Technical director Mike Elliott, however, admitted that the 36-year-old's glorious podium finish in Canada was a very positive sign of his progress and mutual confidence between the driver and his team.

In a team debrief video on YouTube post-2022 F1 Canadian GP, Elliott said:

“I think it is really encouraging to see Lewis [Hamilton] be able to tag onto the back of the front two. think we looked like we were in decent shape with the degradation with the tyres. I think, at that point of the race, it was pretty clear to Lewis that, barring some collision up front, we didn’t quite have the pace to compete and get ourselves into that fight and he would have sensibly brought the car home in the position it was in.”

“I think from my point of view what’s really nice is to see a bit more pace from the car on Sunday. Also to find some direction, I think we are starting to understand our issues, we are starting to make strides forward. But we are very realistic, we’ve got our feet properly on the ground and we know we’ve got to work really hard from here. We’ve got to turn that understanding into parts that we can bring to make the car going quicker and we are trying to do that as quickly as we can.”

While Max Verstappen currently leads the 2022 drivers' standings, Hamilton stands sixth with 77 points to his name.