Lewis Hamilton gives the best response to Nelson Piquet's racial slur about him

Lewis Hamilton has spoken out saying "archaic mindsets need to change" after three-time former world champion Nelson Piquet referred to him using racist language.

The 69-year-old made the racist comments during a Brazilian podcast interview last November where shared his thoughts on a crash in the opening lap involving the seven-time champion with rival Max Verstappen at last year's Silverstone race.

In the end, Verstappen didn't finish the race as a result after he spun out and crashed into a barrier while Hamilton went on to win the Grand Prix.

This happened during a season where the pair were neck and neck in the championship which was won by Verstappen at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix where some controversial decisions were made in the race.

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Piquet - who is the father of Verstappen's partner Kelly Piquet - accused Hamilton of crashing into the Belgian-Dutch driver on purpose and used racist language twice when describing the British Mercedes driver.

Now, Hamilton has since broken his silence on the matter and at first, gave a tongue-in-cheek response to a fan who said "What if Lewis Hamilton just tweeted 'Who the f*** is Nelson Piquet?' then closed twitter."

To which the 37-year-old quote tweeted and simply replied: "Imagine."

He then followed up with another tweet in Portuguese: "Vamos focar em mudar a mentalidade," meaning "Let's focus on changing the mindset."

In a third tweet, Hamilton then commented on racism within motorsport, his personal experience with this and then called for "action," on the issue.

"It’s more than language. 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," he said.

So far, fellow F1 drivers Charles Leclerc, Daniel Ricciardo, Esteban Ocon, Mick Schumacher, Zhou Guanyu, Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris, Pierre Gasly and Nicholas Latifi have expressed their support for Hamilton, while George Russell praised his Mercedes teammate:

"Huge respect to LH. He has done more for the sport than any driver in history, not just on track but off it. The fact that he and so many others are STILL having to deal with this behaviour is unacceptable.

"We all need to stand together against discrimination of any kind," he tweeted.

“Discriminatory or racist language is unacceptable in any form and has no part in society. Lewis is an incredible ambassador for our sport and deserves respect,” F1 said in a statement.

“ His [Hamilton’s] tireless efforts to increase diversity and inclusion are a lesson to many and something we are committed to at F1.”

The FIA (the governing body for motorsport) also denounced Piquet in a statement:

"The FIA strongly condemns any racist or discriminatory language and behaviour, which have no place in sport or wider society.

"We express our solidarity with @LewisHamilton and fully support his commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion in motor sport," it said.

Hamilton's F1 team Mercedes also posted a statement denouncing the racist language used.

"We condemn in the strongest terms any use of racist or discriminatory language of any kind.

"Lewis has spearheaded our sport's efforts to combat racism, and he is a true champion of diversity on and off track. Together, we share a vision for a diverse and inclusive motorsport, and this incident underlines the fundamental importance of continuing to strive for a brighter future."

Other F1 teams soon followed, as Haas shared F1's statement, along with Ferrari who also tweeted: "We stand alongside @F1, @LewisHamilton and @MercedesAMGF1 against any form of discrimination."

Red Bull said they "stand with @LewisHamilton against the disgusting racial comments made by Nelson Piquet."

McLaren said it too "stands alongside @LewisHamilton and @F1," and added: "Racism must be driven out of our sport and it's our shared responsibility to unite and eliminate it."

Aston Martin tweeted a statement on the matter: "We stand with @LewisHamilton and all those around the world affected by racism or discrimination of any kind.

"There is no room for this abhorrent behaviour in our sport or society."

On the same day, Red Bull announced it has terminated the contract of their test and junior driver Juri Vips after a full investigation into the matter where he was heard using racist language during a video game live stream.

In an Instagram post last week, the 21-year-old F2 driver apologised for his “unacceptable” language.

"I wish to unreservedly apologise for the offensive language used during a live gaming stream earlier today. This language is entirely unacceptable and does not portray the values and principles that I hold.

“I deeply regret my actions and this is not the example I with to set. I will co-operate with the investigation fully," he added.

"Following its investigation into an online incident involving Juri Vips, Oracle Red Bull Racing has terminated Juri’s contract as its test and reserve driver.

“The team do not condone any form of racism," the statement from Red Bull read.

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