Nelson Piquet would have used the N-word in an earlier interview. Lewis Hamilton reacted angrily this week and he received a lot of support from others within the sport. Piquet made himself heard on social media on Wednesday.
"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 collequially in Brazilian Portuguese as a synonym for 'guy' or 'person' and was never intented to offend," he reveals.
He therefore does not recognise himself in the accusations he has heard in recent days. "I strongly condemn any suggestion that the world was used by me with the aim of belittling a driver because of his skin colour."
Piquet feels misunderstood
According to Piquet, the problem was the translation, which was not correct. He is happy that racism has no place in Formula 1 and says he has a lot of respect for Hamilton's past performance.