Six-time Le Mans winner Jacky Ickx extends his support for Lewis Hamilton amidst being subject to racial slur

Six-time Le Mans winner Jacky Ickx extends his support for Lewis Hamilton amidst being subject to racial slur

Lewis Hamilton

3-time Formula One World Champion Nelson Piquet has come under serious scrutiny recently. The 69-year-old driver accused 7-time Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton of being at fault for his accident with Kelly Piquet’s partner Max Verstappen at the 2017 British Grand Prix while using a racial slur.

The remarks were made on a podcast in Portuguese in November of last year, but they were just made available to the public last week. To these remarks being put out in public, Hamilton replied, “It’s more than language. 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,” on Twitter.

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Also Read: Ferrari pledges support to Lewis Hamilton amidst Nelson Piquet’s absurd rant: “We stand alongside F1, Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes

Jacky Ickx stands beside Lewis Hamilton during such times

Jacky Ickx
Jacky Ickx

Belgian former F1 driver and 6-time Le Mans winner Jacky Ickx has been one of the latest people to extend their support to the Mercedes driver in the wake of such an incident seeing the light of the day.

The 77-year-old posted on his official Instagram social media handle: “I support Hamilton for the outstanding pilot he indisputably is, and above all, for the man and causes he’s eagerly defending.”

“I would like to clear the stories circulating in the media about a comment I made in an interview last year. What I said was ill thought out, and I make no defence for it, but I will clarify that the term used is one that has widely and historically been used in Brazilian Portuguese for a synonym for ‘guy’ or ‘person’ and was never intended to offend. I would never use the word I have been accused of in some translations,” apologised Piquet in an official statement released yesterday.

Also Read: “Condemnation needs to be swift and absolute” : Will Buxton urges for urgent stricture on Nelson Piquet’s racist remarks on Lewis Hamilton

Also Read: George Russell comes out in support of teammate Lewis Hamilton : “He has done more for the sport than any driver in history”