Nelson Piquet’s insensitive words towards sad demise of Ayrton Senna come to light after ‘racially abusing’ Lewis Hamilton
With the outbreak of the news that Nelson Piquet Sr. used racial slurs while addressing Lewis Hamilton and his collision with Max Verstappen back in 2021 when the two racers were contesting for the British Grand Prix title in Silverstone, Formula 1 fans have turned the internet upside down in search of the reason behind Nelson’s distasteful comments about the seven-time World Champion.
While inclusivity is being promoted to the highest degree in F1 now compared to the earlier times, Nelson Piquet’s comments seem to be a beacon of discrimination in this sport that is supposed to be open to all, irrespective of races, caste and creed. Motorsports enthusiasts all around the world have vehemently criticized Nelson Piquet’s words and they have called for banning the Brazilian racer from ever entering the F1 paddocks again.
Even earlier, Nelson Piquet had been accused of passing insensitive comments on Nigel Mansell, who was his teammate at Williams and one of his greatest rivals in his entire Formula 1 career. Not only that, Piquet had also addressed Ayrton Senna’s death in the most horrific manner which made many F1 enthusiasts unsettled. This goes to show that this is not the first time Piquet has openly abused other F1 racers without thinking of any consequences.
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Nelson Piquet once called Mansell “stupid”, passed insensitive comments on Ayrton Senna’s death
While Nelson Piquet had a chilling competition with his Williams teammate Nigel Mansell, the Brazilian’s departure from the British team towards the end of 1987 caused their partnership to end, but their rivalry went on way after that. In ’88, Nelson Piquet sat down with correspondents from PlayBoy where he called Mansell “stupid” and even said that Mansell’s wife was “ugly”. Piquet did not stop there, and went on to bash the great Enzo Ferrari by calling him “senile”.
But Nelson Piquet’s most insensitive side came out when he sat down for an interview to discuss his rivalry with his fellow Brazilian racer Ayrton Senna, who unfortunately passed away in 1994 following a massive crash that he endured while San Marino Grand Prix. Senna’s untimely death at the age of 34 was a shock to the entire F1 community and it was believed that he would have gone on to win many more Championships had he not passed away so early.
Brazilian racers Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna, each with three World Championship titles to his name, had a fierce rivalry that has gone down in the books. When Senna started off in F1, Piquet had already won two World Championship titles, and their rivalry sparked off as soon as Piquet noticed a fellow Brazilian challenging him at his own game. When Senna won his first World Championship, Nelson Piquet reportedly called him “the Sao Paolo taxi driver”, as quoted by BBC.
Even after Ayrton Senna’s death, when Nelson Piquet approached the topic of who was the better racer amongst them, Piquet was insensitive enough to mentioned that he was the one who lived while Senna died. He said, “I said: ‘I’m alive…‘”
It is no news to the F1 fans that Lewis Hamilton has always said Ayrton Senna is his true Formula 1 inspiration and now that Hamilton has now been racially abused by Nelson Piquet, who has also used slurs against Senna, netizens have linked the two incidents to conclude that Nelson Piquet has a disgusting habit of using insensitive remarks for other Formula 1 racers.
Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)