“Nelson Piquet Is Not a Racist”: Despite Racist Comments on Lewis Hamilton, Kelly Piquet’s Mother Defends Her Ex-Husband

Sabyasachi Biswas | 01/04/2023
“Nelson Piquet Is Not a Racist”: Despite Racist Comments on Lewis Hamilton, Kelly Piquet’s Mother Defends 3x Champion Against Brazil Court

Kelly Piquet’s mother, Sylvia Tamsma, recently defended Nelson Piquet against Brazil court charges. This move comes right after the country’s court held the 3x champion guilty of racial comments against Lewis Hamilton.

Tamsma, by relationship, is the ex-wife of the Brazilian former driver. As per the reports, she was seen defending her ex-husband on social media.

A user shared a screenshot of Kelly Piquet’s mother’s comments on the three-time world champion. She explained the Hamilton situation and wrote that her ex-husband is “absolutely not a racist.”

To put it into perspective, Tamsma explained that the N-word. This was something Piquet used against the Mercedes driver. But she said it wasn’t supposed to have a racial meaning.

Explaining how it should work, she wrote that it’s spelled as “Nega”, not “Ni**er,” and penned, “Nelson Piquet is not a racist.”

Furthermore, she said that these are usually used in the case of friendly conversations, with friends, and more. Additionally, she used the Brazilian’s political stand to justify his guilt.

What did Piquet say to Hamilton?

As per reports, the 70-year-old used racial comments against the seven-time world champion. This was done when he commented on the crash between the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen during the 2021 British Grand Prix.

Piquet was found to have used racist slurs against the Silver Arrows ace in November 2021. As per multiple reports, the father of Kelly Piquet uttered “n******o”, which means ‘little black men’ in Portuguese.

Furthermore, talking to a podcast, the Brazilian was once again found to be using homophobic comments in a resurfaced footage from 2016. This was from the Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton era in Mercedes.

As the two incidents of such practice gained traction, the Brazilian court took notice of the situation and penalized the three-time F1 champion.

Hamilton praised the Brazilian court’s verdict

Lewis Hamilton welcomed the decision as the Brazilian court penalized Piquet with $953,000. The 38-year-old also praised the South American government for taking cognizance of things. Moreover, he was also happy that someone was made accountable for their actions.

Talking to the media, Briton said that there is no place for homophobia and racism in society. Despite apologizing to the former McLaren man, the 70-year-old was asked to pay the sum.

Admittedly, the charges were brought up after four human rights groups, including Brazil’s National LGBT+ Alliance, filed a lawsuit against the Brazilian champion. To add more weight to the criticism, Hamilton’s team, Mercedes, and Formula 1 as a whole condemned the ugly words used against Lewis Hamilton.

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
Kelly Piquet Lewis Hamilton Max Verstappen Nelson Piquet

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Sabyasachi Biswas

Sabyasachi Biswas is an F1 journalist at The SportsRush. With over one and a half decades of love for the sport and five years of experience in the field, he dreams to be a regular at the paddock when the lights go out. A Red Bull fan and F1 fan in general over the years, he enjoyed watching Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen dominate the track. Apart from F1, he's also a big-time Madridista and Federer fanatic. He was a sub-junior level footballer, won inter-district quizzes and debate competitions back in school. A travel freak throughout, he tries different cuisines and learns new cultures whenever he's away from the keyboard.

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