Helmut Marko has questioned the “timing” of the recent Nelson Piquet scandal, after the publication of a video in which the triple world champion made racist remarks against Lewis Hamilton.
It sparked a fierce controversy, including calls for a lifetime ban from F1 and even criminal prosecution. Piquet was also banned from the paddock, and Brazilian justice announced that it would look into his remarks.
« I don’t want to defend Piquet, but if you translate the Portuguese correctly, what he said is not nearly as blatant » declared Marko, bringing back to the carpet this nuance which has already been denied by some Brazilians, having assured that the remarks were indeed tendentious.
« But we know Piquet. Even when he was active, he always made inconsiderate statements. The only strange thing is that this interview from last November surfaced a few days before the grand prix in England. »
According to him, this was to prevent the 2021 accident between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen from being at the center of discussions at Silverstone: « Apparently they didn’t want the previous year’s crash to boil over again. This timing is no coincidence. »
However, another video surfaced shortly after the British GP, in which Piquet made the same racist remarks, to which he added homophobic words. But according to Marko, this relates to the very political aspect of Mercedes F1, which he is happy not to find at Ferrari.
“With Mercedes, everything always becomes political” he said, saluting Ferrari as he passed. « We fight on an equal footing in terms of sport. It’s just a shame that [Charles] Leclerc and Ferrari continue to make mistakes in their battles with us. »
