Former F1 champion Nelson Piquet fined nearly $1M for racist comments about Lewis Hamilton

Three-time Formula 1 champion Nelson Piquet was fined nearly $1 million for calling current star Lewis Hamilton a racially charged name and for racist and homophobic comments from another interview.

The Associated Press reports that on Friday, a Brazilian court ordered Piquet, 70, to pay 5 million Brazilian reals, which equates to about $953,000, in “moral damages.” The ruling is in response to an interview where the Brazilian called Hamilton, the only Black driver in the sport, a racial slur that translates from Portuguese to “little Black guy" when discussing a crash in the British Grand Prix with his daughter's partner, Max Verstappen. According to The Guardian, the ruling also cited another interview where Piquet used racist and homophobic language to address how Hamilton lost the 2016 world championship.

The money will be distributed to groups advocating for racial justice and for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. The claim was brought to court by four human rights groups who sought double the fine.

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Judge Pedro Matos de Arrudo explained his ruling, saying "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 June, Hamilton, who is an honorary citizen of Brazil, called out Piquet when the November 2021 interview circulated the internet. FIA — the governing body of motorsport — and Formula 1 also condemned the retired driver's use of offensive terms.

"It’s more than language," the seven-time champion wrote on Twitter. "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."

Piquet apologized to the British driver, adding that he believed his words were translated incorrectly.

“What I said was ill thought out, and I make no defense 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,” Piquet said. “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 color.”

In July, more footage surfaced of Piquet speaking in another interview, where he used racist and homophobic language.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nelson Piquet fined for racist comments about F1's Lewis Hamilton