Nelson Piquet has been banned from the Formula 1 paddock following his use of a racially-offensive term to describe Lewis Hamilton. The three-time world champion used the Portuguese term when referring to Hamilton on a Brazilian podcast, while discussing his collision with Max Verstappen at Silverstone last year. His comments drew widespread condemnation from F1, the FIA, teams and drivers, as well as Hamilton himself. Despite a statement from Piquet on Wednesday where he claims the word — while “ill thought out” — wasn’t being used in a racial sense, RACER understands the explanation does not change F1’s view that the Brazilian is no longer welcome at grands prix in...
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