Nelson Piquet has been slapped with a fine of 5 million Brazilian Reals (circa $950,000) for racial and homophobic abuse he hurled at Lewis Hamilton in 2021.
The three-time Formula 1 world champion has been ordered to pay the fine by a Brazilian court in “moral damages” to Hamilton.
Commenting on his ruling, Judge Pedro Matos de Arrudo emphasised that he set the amount to be paid as moral damages “in the sense that one should not only appreciate the reparative function of civil liability but also (and perhaps mainly) the punitive function so that, as a society, we can someday be free from the pernicious acts that are racism and homophobia”.
In an interview conducted in November 2021, Piquet used a racial slur when discussing Hamilton’s collision with Max Verstappen at that year’s British Grand Prix.
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Following this, another interview emerged during which he made homophobic comments about the seven-time world champion.
Following the emergence of Piquet’s comments, several teams and drivers came to the defence of the Briton and condemned all forms of discrimination.
In a confusing apology, Piquet apologised for making the comments about Hamilton, but then tried to justify calling Hamilton a “neguinho,” which translates from Portuguese as “little black guy.”
“I would like to clear the stories circulating in the media about a comment I made in an interview last year,” Piquet, who is the father of Max Verstappen’s girlfriend, 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 in Brazilian Portuguese for a synonym for ‘guy’ or ‘person’ and was never intended to offend.
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“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.
“I apologise wholeheartedly to anyone that was affected, including Lewis, who is an incredible driver, but the translation in some media that is now circulating on social media is not correct,” he added.