Brasília, Brazil - Three-time Formula One champion Nelson Piquet was fined $945 000 (R17.2 million) on Saturday for racist remarks made against British driver Lewis Hamilton, who he called "neguinho" ("little black") in an interview.
A court in Brasilia ruled that these "intolerable" remarks constituted a "serious offence to the fundamental values of society".
Piquet, 70, was fined for "collective moral damages" with the money being donated to groups fighting against discrimination.
World champion in 1981, 1983 and 1987, Piquet used the word "neguinho" in an interview in 2021 when he criticised Hamilton's role in a clash with Max Verstappen, his daughter Kelly's boyfriend, at the British Grand Prix the same year.
Hamilton, a seven-time world champion, denounced "archaic attitudes" which "had to change".
"These are more than words," said Hamilton.
Piquet later issued a "wholehearted" apology.
"What I said was wrong and I'm not going to defend myself but I want to clarify that this term has often been used in Brazilian Portuguese to describe 'guy' or 'person' and that it was never intended to offend," he insisted.
However, the court was not convinced, ruling that "the absence of intention could not justify discriminatory behaviour towards minorities".
In another clip which surfaced later, Piquet used racist and homophobic language against Hamilton in a podcast interview when describing how Hamilton missed out on the 2016 championship to Nico Rosberg.
The charges were brought by four human rights groups, including Brazil's National LGBT+ Alliance, which wanted Piquet to pay 10 million Brazilian Reals for alleged moral damages.
In his decision, Judge Pedro Matos de Arrudo said the amount of compensation was given "in the sense that one should not only appreciate the reparative function of civil liability but also (and perhaps mainly) the punitive function so that, as a society, we can someday be free from the pernicious acts that are racism and homophobia".
AFP & Reuters