Nelson Piquet has been under fire recently for his racist comments on seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton.
The entire F1 community was shocked and upset to hear Piquet’s remarks. He is a three time F1 Champion, and was one of the most respected athletes in the sport.
He used discriminatory words to describe Hamilton, while discussing his crash with Verstappen at Silverstone last year. He said this in a podcast last November, but it resurfaced earlier this week.
Another video featuring Piquet resurfaced recently. This time, he was making fun of another three time World Champion, and one of the most iconic men in motorsport. Piquet was mocking Ayrton Senna’s death.
Senna passed away after suffering a fatal crash at the 1994 San Marino GP. It’s been a sensitive topic for fans and the F1 community since, but Piquet did not spare much thought.
Nelson Piquet being disrespectful towards Ayrton Senna
Piquet himself is a three-time World Champion. Alongside Senna, he’s Brazil’s most successful F1 driver but the former is still loved and respected. In fact, even Hamilton seems to have more fans in Brazil.
During this video about Senna, Piquet was giving an interview alongside Nigel Mansell. It was then that he revealed a former incident with a journalist to the host.
“Another day, a journalist asked me,” he began. “Being honest, who was the best? You or Senna?” The reply he gave to this angered F1 fans worldwide. “I said, I’m alive!”, he replied.
The host of the show seemed uncomfortable about that reply, and so did Mansell.
F1 Twitter completely bashed the Brazilian driver for disrespecting his compatriot like that. They’re even more angry because it comes just a day after videos of him racially abusing Hamilton surfaced.
Most of the F1 community, including Mercedes, Ferrari and drivers like George Russell and Charles Leclerc have stood up to defend Hamilton, and denounce Piquet.
