The entire Nelson Piquet x Lewis Hamilton saga seems to have come to an end. But the conclusion this row has come to would not please the 7x champion, Hamilton, nor the millions following this sport globally. Piquet, 70, was being harried by law enforcement in his home nation of Brazil recently for his racist comments against Hamilton back in July 2021. That being said, the ‘sentence’ that the 3x champion has to serve seems like just a slap on the wrist compared to the gravity of his offence.

In the aftermath of the controversial 2021 British Grand Prix, Piquet was quoted as saying, “The ‘little black man’ put the car in and left. Senna didn’t do that. Senna didn’t do that. He was, like, ‘here I rip him off anyway’. The ‘little guy’ left the car. It’s because you don’t know the curve; It’s a very high curve, there’s no way to pass two cars and there’s no way to pass on the side. He did it as a joke,” while referring to his daughter’s boyfriend’s [Max Verstappen] crash with Hamilton at Copse. [translated via Google Translate]

Now, it would appear that the only punishment Piquet has to serve is a mandatory public apology and a penalty of R$10 million [$1.9 million]. Naturally, fans and prominent media personalities alike aren’t too happy with this. According to PortalRapMais.com, Brazilian rapper, Mano Brown, who boasts 6 million Instagram followers blasted this decision by saying only two words on social media: “F*ck off”.

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There has been a lot of back and forth in this matter. But there was a time when Piquet tried to unsuccessfully bury the hatchet.

Nelson Piquet’s bizarre apology to Lewis Hamilton

Back when the chatter had picked up about this whole fiasco, many drivers and personalities came to Hamilton’s aid. Even the Brit issued a strong statement asking for severe reform. That’s when Nelson Piquet attempted to convince the world with a very half-hearted apology to Hamilton.

He said, “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.”

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Do you agree with the way Piquet was let off?