File picture of former Formula One driver Nelson Piquet, right, with former Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone
Nelson Piquet, a Brazilian triple Formula One champion, was ordered by a court in Brazil on Friday to pay $953,050 in moral damages for his racist and homophobic comments directed towards Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton.
Piquet made the comments in November 2021 while referring to Hamilton’s British Grand Prix crash with Max Verstappen. In an interview, he used a racial slur against Hamilton.
After footage of the interview surfaced on social media, Hamilton called for a change in outdated mindsets. In response, Piquet apologized to Hamilton, claiming that his comments were misunderstood. Piquet’s daughter, Kelly, is Verstappen’s partner.
In another clip released later, Piquet used racist and homophobic language against Hamilton during a podcast interview in reference to Hamilton missing out on the 2016 championship to Nico Rosberg.
Hamilton, the only Black driver in the sport, was awarded honorary Brazilian citizenship last year.
The charges against Piquet were filed by four human rights groups who were seeking $10 million in compensation for alleged moral damages. In his ruling, Judge Pedro Matos de Arrudo explained that the amount of compensation was given “not only to appreciate the reparative function of civil liability but also (and perhaps mainly) to perform the punitive function so that we can one day be free from the pernicious acts of racism and homophobia as a society.”