Three-time Formula 1 World Champion Nelson Piquet has had his appeal over his £780,000 fine rejected, following his homophobic and racist comments directed at Lewis Hamilton.
Four human rights groups recently took the Brazilian to court after comments he made about the seven-time World Champion surfaced, where racial slurs were used by Piquet against Hamilton in a series of interviews.
These groups included Brazil’s LGBTQ+ Alliance, with the comments made by Piquet having dated back to 2016.
However, the initial comments which were discovered came from an interview Piquet did in November 2021, where he discussed Hamilton’s and Max Verstappen’s collision at the British Grand Prix.
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Verstappen, of course, is dating Kelly Piquet, the daughter of the ex-F1 driver.
Further comments from 2016 were then discovered, with Piquet having used racial slurs and homophobic language when discussing the 38-year-old’s title defeat to former team-mate Nico Rosberg.
When it all came to light, Piquet was quick to apologise for his comments, which have since seen him indefinitely banned from the F1 paddock.
He insisted that he had no intention of being racist against the Mercedes driver, with him having blamed “translations” of his interviews.
“What I said was ill thought out, and I make no defence for it,” Piquet said last year, as reported by PlanetF1.
“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.
“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.
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“Discrimination has no place in F1 or society and I am happy to clarify my thoughts in that respect.”
Despite this, he was still fined £780,000 for ‘moral damages’ in Brazil, a fine he attempted to appeal against.
However, according to Globo, Piquet will have to pay the fine, as a result of his appeal having been denied.