Piquet’s comment reminds us why role models in F1 matter ahead of British GP
Home country hero Lewis Hamilton has, and there’s no other way to put this, dominated the British Grand Prix in recent years.
On a run of three consecutive wins – seven wins in eight years – you’d be forgiven for thinking Hamilton and Silverstone were joined at the hip.
But as he, his Mercedes team, and the Formula 1 paddock head to the Northamptonshire circuit, formerly an airbase, that has featured on the calendar since 1950, Hamilton remains at the centre of F1 discussions despite not being one of the favourites to win on Sunday.
Because the seven-time world champion has this week been subject to abhorrent language at the hands of three-time world champion Nelson Piquet – with the Brazilian denying his use of the ‘N-word’ was to do with skin colour.
And while the reaction to Piquet’s slurs have been met with widespread condemnation, it remains a cloud hanging over what is one of the best races on the calendar.
The famous corners, the wheel-to-wheel battles, the overtaking opportunities and the packed crowds on every day of the weekend.
It really is one of British sport’s crown jewels and a track drivers no doubt want to win at.
“It’s more than language,” Hamilton said earlier this week when addressing the comments. “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.”
And while the governing body the FIA and various teams and drivers have come out against the use of the slur, many believe Piquet should be banned from the paddock indefinitely.
‘Belittling’
“What I said was ill-thought-out, and I make no defence for it,” Piquet said yesterday in response to the condemnation.
“But I will clarify that the term used is one that has widely and historically been used colloquially in Brazilian Portuguese as 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. I strongly condemn the suggestion that the word was used by me with the aim of belittling a driver because of his skin colour.”
But through this latest scandal to hit sport – following the likes of anti-Asian discrimination in English cricket and Red Bull’s termination of junior driver Juri Vips, also for use of the ‘N-word’ – it reminds us of the work that still needs to be done to reach a point where comments like Piquet’s aren’t made – no matter the context.
Role Models
And in the way Hamilton has tirelessly spoken up and encouraged a change in messaging on key viewpoints – alongside the likes of Sebastian Vettel on LGBTQ+ rights – we’re reminded of the importance of role models in sport using their platform.
Formula 1 is global and its drivers are celebrities – brands in fact – and it will be for the younger drivers to take up the mantle of social change when the more senior drivers leave the front line of the sport for pastures new.
In the meantime, there’s a race to be had – and with Hamilton unlikely to win this year, predicting the winner on this famous track come Sunday has become a lot harder.