Lewis Hamilton praises Brazilian authorities over Nelson Piquet court ruling

 Lewis Hamilton has praised Brazilian authorities for handing three-time Formula One champion Nelson Piquet a large fine for using racist and anti-gay language in comments about the Mercedes driver.

A Brazilian court last week ordered Piquet to pay 5 million Brazilian reals ($953,050) in “moral damages” for remarks about Hamilton in interviews in 2021 and 2016.

“I still believe that we generally shouldn’t be giving people that are just full of hate a platform,” Hamilton told reporters at Albert Park ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.

“I’d like to acknowledge the Brazilian government, I think it’s pretty amazing what they’ve done in holding someone accountable, showing people that that is not tolerated.

“Racism and homophobia are not acceptable, and there is no place for it within our society. So I love that they’ve shown that they stand for something.”

Piquet, 70, apologized to seven-time world champion Hamilton last year and said he had been mistranslated by some media.

Hamilton, who was recently awarded honorary Brazilian citizenship, is the sport’s only Black driver.

Lewis Hamilton will only leave Mercedes if he feels he has nothing left to give them but would rather see out his “last days” with the Formula One team, the seven-time world champion said on Thursday.

Hamilton is out of contract at the end of the year and speculation about his future is already rife as Mercedes struggle to recapture their past dominance. However, Hamilton said he felt “amazing” about his future with the team.

“I continue to feel very much at home in this family,” he told reporters at Albert Park. “I see myself with Mercedes until my last days, to be honest. I have amazing allies within the team and great relationships here.

“Just as long as I can continue to help drive the team forward, really contribute … if there’s ever going to be a point where I feel like I’m unable to do that, it’s time for a youngster to come in.”

Having won six championships through a golden run with Mercedes, Hamilton failed to win a race last year, his first season without one.

Neither he nor teammate George Russell managed a podium in this year’s season-opening races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso placing third behind both Red Bull drivers at each.

Mercedes said they got their car concept wrong and have gone back to the drawing board.

Hamilton described the current package as a “little bit better” than last year’s car, which was prone to bouncing, but said it could take the whole season to extract the performance from it to catch Red Bull.

“I’m aware that it can take a long time to catch the car ahead,” he said. “You look at the Red Bulls, it’s just going to continue to evolve.”

Kheloge Mota, Tabhi to jitoge Mota.

MOTABET.COM