Arsenal defender Nuno Tavares has taken to social media and shown his support for Sir Lewis Hamilton after shocking footage emerged of former F1 world champion, Nelson Piquet, using a racial slur to describe him in an interview last year.
As per Sky Sports, Piquet twice used a racially offensive expression in Portuguese when referring to the 37-year-old during a Brazilian podcast last November and those comments have resurfaced on social media ahead of the first anniversary of the crash between Hamilton and Max Verstappen during the 2021 British GP.
"The ******** put the car in the wrong way and didn't let [the other driver swerve]," Piquet said, as per the Daily Mail. "The ******** put the car in the wrong way on the corner, it's because you don't know the curve. It's a very high curve, there is no way to pass two cars and there's no way you can put the car aside. He did [Verstappen] dirty. His luck was that only the other one was gone."
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Hamilton has since hit back at Piquet in a series of tweets on Tuesday (June 28), one of which reads: "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."
Amongst the huge show of support for Hamilton, Arsenal's Nuno Tavares has also spoken out with a simple reply to the aforementioned tweet: "This must stop. Standing with you, @LewisHamilton," the defender wrote.
In addition to Tavares, Formula 1 have condemned Piquet's comments, releasing a statement that read: "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.
"His tireless efforts to increase diversity and inclusion are a lesson to many and something we are committed to at F1." Hamilton's team, Mercedes, also released a statement, saying: "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."
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