On June 10, the Brazilian Congress made Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton an honorary citizen of the country. Now the Mercedes star has to defend himself against a prominent Brazilian.
At the beginning of June, Lewis Hamilton reported on Instagram: “I’m speechless. Thank you Brazil, I can’t wait to see you again.” The Brazilian Congress had accepted a proposal by MP Andre Figueiredo and made the racing driver an honorary citizen of Brazil.
Now Hamilton is back on his social networks, but this time the occasion is unfortunately not so happy. The Brazilian racing legend Nelson Piquet racially slandered the Brit, which drew reactions from the world autosport association FIA, Formula 1 and the Mercedes-Benz racing team. Not to mention thousands of comments from fans.
Lewis Hamilton writes about this unpleasant incident: «It is about more than language. These outdated attitudes need to change and have no place in our sport. I’ve been surrounded by attitudes like that all my life. We still have plenty of time to learn. But the time has come to act.”
Then the 103-time GP winner adds in Portuguese: “Vamos focar em mudar a mentalidade.” Translated: Let’s focus on changing the mentality.
Kanada-GP, Montreal
01. Max Verstappen (NL), Red Bull Racing, 1:36:21,757 h
02. Carlos Sainz (E), Ferrari, +0.993sec
03. Lewis Hamilton (GB), Mercedes, +7,006
04. George Russell (GB), Mercedes, +12,313
05. Charles Leclerc (MC), Ferrari, +15,168
06. Esteban Ocon (F), Alpine, +23,890
07. Valtteri Bottas (FIN), Alfa Romeo, +25,247
08. Guanyu Zhou (RC), Alfa Romeo, +26,952
09. Fernando Alonso (L), Alpine, +29,945
10. Lance Stroll (CDN), Aston Martin, +38,222
11. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS), McLaren, +43,047
12. Sebastian Vettel (D), Aston Martin, +44,245
13. Alexander Albon (T), Williams, +44,893
14. Pierre Gasly (F), AlphaTauri, +45,183
15. Lando Norris (GB), McLaren, +52.145
16. Nicholas Latifi (CDN), Williams, +59,978
17. Kevin Magnussen (DK), Haas, +1: 08,180 min
Out
Yuki Tsunoda (J), AlphaTauri, Crash
Mick Schumacher (D), Haas, Motor
Sergio Perez (MEX), Red Bull Racing, Getriebe
Drivers’ Championship (after 9 of 22 races)
01. Verstappen 175 points
02. Pérez 129
03. Leclerc 126
04. Russell 111
05. Sainz 102
06. Hamilton 77
07. Norris 50
08. Bottas 46
09. Ocon 39
10. Alonso 18
11. Gasly 16
12. Magnussen 15
13. Ricciardo 15
14. Vettel 13
15. Tsunoda 11
16. Zhou 5
17. Albon 3
18. Stroll 3
19. Schumacher 0
20. Nico Hülkenberg (D) 0
21. Latifi 0
Booth Constructors Cup
01. Red Bull Racing 304 Punkte
02. Ferrari 228
03. Mercedes 188
04. McLaren 65
05. Alpine 57
06. Alfa Romeo 51
07. AlphaTauri 27
08. Aston Martin 16
09. Haas 15
10. Williams 3
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