Nelson Piquet Apologises To Lewis Hamilton Over 'Racist Slur'

Nelson Piquet has apologised to Lewis Hamilton over comments he made about the F1 driver in an interview, though he denies there was any racist intent behind them.

Piquet used a racially offensive term when speaking about Hamilton on a podcast in his native Brazil.

He had been speaking about an incident during the first lap of last year's British Grand Prix between Hamilton and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, whose partner Kelly is Piquet's daughter.

The Brazilian blamed a mistranslation of what he said in the podcast for the accusations of racist abuse he is facing and has admitted that his words were 'ill thought out'.

The 69-year-old released a statement saying he 'would like to clear up the stories' over the comments he made about Hamilton.

He said: "What I said was ill thought out, and I make no defence for it, but I will clarify that the term used is one that has widely and historically been used colloquially in Brazilian Portuguese as a synonym for 'guy' or 'person' and was never intended to offend."

"I would never use the word I have been accused of in some translations. I strongly condemn any suggestion that the word was used by me with the aim of belittling a driver because of his skin colour."

He tweeted: "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."

Formula One also released a statement supporting Hamilton, which read: "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."