“Enough is enough”: Hamilton’s rivals speak out over Piquet’s racist comment

2022 F1 season

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Several of Lewis Hamilton’s rivals have spoken up in support of him on social media after one of his fellow Formula 1 champions referring to him using a racist expression.

Formula 1 and the FIA condemned the language used by Nelson Piquet to describe Hamilton in a recording made late last year which recently gained wider attention.

Alpine driver Esteban Ocon said “enough is enough” and stressed racist language “has absolutely no part in our sport and our society.” Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc said others should treat Hamilton in the same “extremely respectful” manner he adopts towards people.

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo praised Hamilton for “all the work he has done both on and off the track to not only spread messages of equality but combat that hate.”

“Each time his response to the hate is motivated by maturity, positivity and educating the world on how we should act,” Ricciardo added.

George Russell was the first to speak up in support of his Mercedes team mate. “The fact that he and so many others are still having to deal with this behaviour is unacceptable,” he said. “We all need to stand together against discrimination of any kind.”

Several teams including Ferrari, McLaren, Aston Martin and Haas also shared expressions of support for Hamilton.

F1 drivers respond to Piquet’s racist comment on Hamilton

All racist or discriminatory language has absolutely no part in our sport and our society. Enough is enough.

I’ve worked and spent time with Lewis over the years and know the kind of person he is. Always genuine and respectful with everyone around him. He has done so much for F1, on and off track, and we are proud to have him at the forefront of our fight for further diversity and inclusion in motorsport.

I stand with Lewis and his continued efforts to make the sport we love a better place for all.
Esteban Ocon

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Discrimination and racism has no place in this sport or our society Those who still choose to spread hate and use those words are no friends of mine. I want to acknowledge Lewis and all the work he has done both on and off the track to not only spread messages of equality but combat that hate.

I’ve never dealt with any racially motivated actions, but he has for his entire life. Yet each time his response to the hate is motivated by maturity, positivity and educating the world on how we should act.

I stand with him and will do whatever I can to follow and support.
Daniel Ricciardo

Knowing Lewis since I arrived in Formula 1, he has always been extremely respectful to me and everyone that he meets. Those values should be the standard towards anybody around the world.

The comments made towards Lewis should not be tolerated, and we should continue to push for a more diverse and inclusive sport. We need to remove discriminatory behaviour and racist language in any form from not just our sport, but our society as well.
Charles Leclerc

Huge respect to LH. He has done more for the sport than any driver in history, not just on track but off it. The fact that he and so many others are still having to deal with this behaviour is unacceptable. We all need to stand together against discrimination of any kind.
George Russell

I join Lewis and the motorsport community in standing against any form of racism, discrimination and prejudice.
Zhou Guanyu

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Keith Collantine
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37 comments on ““Enough is enough”: Hamilton’s rivals speak out over Piquet’s racist comment”

  1. I want to see Max speak out with the same forceful language. Itll be interesting considering he’s dating Kelly Piquet, who’s grown up in that environment, and he’s condemning the father of his gf.

    1. I would not expect anything like that from Max or anyone at RBR, except maybe from Perez.

    2. Would that make your day or what? Real life is not, or at least shouldn’t be a soap opera. Whatever he does or doesn’t do, is that why we watch the F1?

    3. Why do you want to hear him especially? As a penance for beating your favorite last year? If not, why?

      This whole thing is getting out of proportion.

      A senior person had used a debatable term in his native language that COULD BE viewed as offensive to billionaire celebrity doing his hobby for a living LAST YEAR, and suddenly everybody feels compelled to start virue signaling, happily ready to cancel anybody who doesn’t react with a copy-paste “forceful language’ quick enough for their taste.

      1. language that COULD BE viewed as offensive to billionaire celebrity doing his hobby for a living LAST YEAR,

        Why do I get the feeling that you would use far clearer language to describe this man you obviously hate @palagyi ?

        1. I obviously don’t hate him, just not a fan of his, simple as that. And I already have described him, no need for you to insinuate me being racist, thank you very much. Excuse me for worrying more about the war in Ukraine, climate change, dangerous authocratic tendencies in my country, and a ton of other stuff instead of bleeding my heart dry for poor Lewis Hamilton.

      2. Raymond Pang
        29th June 2022, 9:57

        Why do you want to hear him especially?

        Because it would send a stronger message. It takes bravery to stand up and be counted on a public stage, especially if your partner’s parent is the one who you are standing up to.

        I wouldn’t chastise Max for not doing so, after all there is the whole family dynamic that the other drivers don’t need to concern themselves with, but I would applaud him if he did.

        Excuse me for worrying more about the war in Ukraine, climate change, dangerous authocratic tendencies in my country, and a ton of other stuff instead of bleeding my heart dry for poor Lewis Hamilton.

        Now who is virtue-signalling? And you’ve missed the point entirely. This isn’t about an attack on Lewis Hamilton. This is, like Hamilton states, a mindset issue. It’s about people like Nelson Piquet using racial slurs as a default means to attack somebody. It’s got nothing to do with “billionaire status”.

        1. Except the concerns I listed are very real problems, with no moral high ground taken. Your concerns are about a made-up problem of the celebrity guy you download your personality from, easily dissolved by at least three different native speaker Brazilians in the previous milking post. Sorry, but there is a difference there, it’s not my loss if you willingly decide to don’t see it.

    4. “Grown in that enviroment” so funny. Comparing different cultures having no absolute clue about it’s diferences might be judged as discrimination? Maybe?
      Get off of your high horse, Don’t label people.
      Pelé is not British is he?

    5. When i saw the headline i started to count.. you surprised me.. it was at one the question arose..
      Red Bull made its stance very clear in relation to Vips.. nothing to see or say here.
      But there will be multiple questions during the press moments form people like you. Not interested in F1 but in soap.

    6. You won’t get anything out of him, given his track record for terrible epithets.

  2. Holdingmybreathforgoodnews
    28th June 2022, 23:05

    Max is stuck between a rock and a hard place…say nowt and get blasted for ignoring it or say what should be said and chance damaging his relationship with his gf and her family…stay tuned I suppose.

    1. Not really, he either thinks its acceptable or not, simple answer either way. If his girlfriend doesn’t like it then plenty more fish in the sea.

      1. Why should he be more concerned about strangers online than the father of the woman he’s in a relationship with

        1. Should he be concerned about the other driver?

        2. @realnigelmansell because the father just got shown to be a racist.

          If my girlfriend’s dad, or even my own father, said something like this I would immediately condemn it. And I’m not famous, there’d be no pressure on me. It would simply be the correct thing to do.

          1. You really brag about nagging senile in laws online? Overreacting to things like this just encourages them to take it further

        3. Because it’s the right thing to do if asked and even better than that, when you’re an ambassador for the sport as it’s champion you pretty much have a duty to do so given the sports support for race as one.

          1. It’s the right thing to do, obviously, to stand up for someone else. It’s another thing to automatically assume that he’s standing up for his father-in-law as long as he doesn’t say anything about this (interview from last year which was suddenly brought up before the British Grand Prix).

            I agree that being an important figure within your field of expertise comes with expectations from the outside world. At the same time that same outside world should realise it’s up to him to fill that role differently and that it doesn’t automatically make him a horrible person.

          2. sorry but hamilton is all for himself he is one of the huge racist people going, he has a black only designer academy which only employs black people so to me that is racism if you want call me a racist i am not bothered fare play for all not just hamilton

          3. You act like this is a really big deal, but it’s just a 70 y/o saying something stupid on a podcast. The drivers all call each other all sorts of insults over radio every race.

        4. Indeed. Whether he makes a statement or not, the world won’t be much different, but it can easily have significant effects on his personal relationships. I don’t think I would preemptively comment the issue if I was in his place.

  3. I was going to say the same thing. Where is Max’s statement?

  4. If Hamilton is a mature adult (and he seems to be most of time) then this shouldn’t bother him at all.

    It seems to be a modern phenomenon that public reaction far outstrips the scale of the original action.
    I don’t expect that this will change anything, though. Piquet is Piquet, and has as much right to be as everyone else has to be themselves.
    We don’t have to like him, but that’s our problem – not his.

    1. He was insulted he has every right to strike back. I’ve made multiple comments saying people shouldn’t care this much about a senile grandpa saying something dumb, but if I was Hamilton I would be incensed. He was insulted

      1. a senile grandpa

        calling does not really support your case here..
        Insulting others when they insult someone is rather childish.

    2. He has every right to say what he likes. I agree.

      But people have the right to be offended by it. Especially in societies that are (slowly) moving away from racism.

      I never understand why people get so angry at people expressing themselves, whilst defending other’s right to do so.

      1. But people have the right to be offended by it.

        The right to offend and the right to be offended are two sides of the same coin. You can’t have one without the other.

        I never understand why people get so angry at people expressing themselves, whilst defending other’s right to do so.

        Funnily enough, I was thinking exactly the same thing. Piquet expressed himself, and look at the reaction here.
        If everyone can express their disgust for his comment, surely he had the same right to make it in the first place?
        What you do with it is your problem.

        1. So you have the right to make any racist or otherwise inappropriate comment, just cause others have the right to express their disgust about it? You really build up some twisted argumentation, dont you think?

          1. You seem to enjoy being offended, Roman.

            So you have the right to make any racist or otherwise inappropriate comment

            The right? Yes, I think everyone has that.
            The will to do so, though? Not personally, usually. I couldn’t even say for certain exactly what another person would find inappropriate or offensive, anyway. Nobody can. But who am I to force my values on others…?
            Most other people don’t have that will either, thankfully. That’s the great thing about personal freedoms.

            You really build up some twisted argumentation, dont you think?

            It’s great being open-minded. Try it some time.

    3. Raymond Pang
      29th June 2022, 10:00

      If Hamilton is a mature adult (and he seems to be most of time) then this shouldn’t bother him at all.

      I don’t think Nelson Piquet does bother him one bit quite frankly. I think Lewis is more than capable of channelling his energy into something more useful. What Lewis is doing is pointing out that there are still these antiquated mindsets that need to be changed. He hasn’t made any personal attack on Nelson, nor does he need to.

    4. Coming from the person who felt that someone throwing the Nazi salute was nothing to get upset over, this comment doesn’t surprise me one bit.

  5. Several teams including Ferrari, McLaren, Aston Martin and Haas also shared expressions of support for Hamilton.

    Red Bull Racing said in their statement regarding Juri Vips that “the team do not condone any form of racism”.

    1. And showing they even practice what the preach.
      Not sure is others do the same..

  6. Hi Gaspar. I do not agree that things (whatever these might be) are getting out of proportion. Mr Piquet’s language, used with reference to LH is unacceptable, and those who have called him out are being entirely reasonable. You lose nothing by standing for what is morally and behaviourally right (?correct) in society. Racist name calling is not something that is encouraged in enlightened settings. All of the issues you mention are well worth worrying about. I would just suggest that they are worth worrying about as well and that those who are disturbed by the tolerance-by-silence approach taken by many has merit. It would be nice if Mr Verstappen could speak up in general. Cheers.

  7. they

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