Piquet fined £780K for racist and homophobic comments

The former Formula One champion Nelson Piquet has been fined 5m reals, £780,000 for making racist and homophobic comments about Lewis Hamilton.

The Brazilian claimed that his comments had been mistranslated.

The comments were made in an interview in 2021 and in a podcast in 2016.

Lewis Hamilton was granted Brazilian citizenship last year and is the sport’s only black driver.

Judge Pedro Matos de Arruda said the size of the fine was decided on “so that, as a society, we can someday be free from the pernicious acts that are racism and homophobia”.