LEWIS HAMILTON has broken his silence amid a race storm with Nelson Piquet ahead of the British Grand Prix.
The 69-year-old Brazilian has been banned from Silverstone this weekend after the vile slur.
Piquet had already been banned for life from the F1 paddock for his disgusting remarks.
And Hamilton, who arrived at Silverstone in a colourful outfit today, said: “I am incredibly grateful to all those who have been supportive within the sport, particularly the drivers.
“It has been two years since we took the knee in Austria. Of course we are still faced with the challenges.
“I have been on the receiving end on racism and that negative and archaic narratives and undertones of discrimination.
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“I am not sure why we are continuing to give these older people a platform.
“They are speaking on the sport but we are looking to go in a different direction. It's the bigger picture.
“It is now a knee jerk reaction from companies all around the world.
“They probably all already have a script ready for that crisis management. It is not enough. Is now about action.
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“We need more than ever to be bringing people together. It is not helpful the comments we are seeing from these people.
“People who are not relevant in the sport for years are trying to bring me down but I am still here.”
Piquet is a member of the British Racing Drivers Club that own Silverstone, but will be formally kicked out at a members' meeting next week.
He issued an apology for his vile comment, saying: "I would never use the word I have been accused of in some translations.
"I strongly condemn any suggestion that the word was used by me with the aim of belittling a driver because of his skin colour.
"I apologise wholeheartedly to anyone that was affected, including Lewis, who is an incredible driver. But the translation in some media that is now circulating on social media is not correct.
"Discrimination has no place in F1 or society and I am happy to clarify my thoughts in that respect."
PIQ A FIGHT
But Hamilton is not buying it, adding: "I try to take that higher road and be respectful to these individuals but why do we give these guys a platform?
"They're not with the times and clearly not willing to change. These undertones of discrimination and micro-aggressions in today's world are not helpful.
"It will not deter me from doing what I think is right and doing what I love, which is working in this sport.
"I've had calls with all the F1 teams who agreed to be a part of this charter and it is still not signed or underway. No more can we be amplifying these voices that are just creating that divide out there.
"We have people in governments who are creating more and more divide. America has just gone back 50 years. People are really struggling out there we all have to pull together.
"There's still discrimination throughout the world. It's still clearly all around us. Enough is enough.
"I try to take the high road but no one should just brush off racism. We need all organisations to take a stand. "
WEAK END AT BERNIE'S
Meanwhile, Good Morning Britain viewers were left shocked as ex-F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone DEFENDED Piquet – having earlier stuck up for Russian PM warlord Vladimir Putin.
Ecclestone said: "I've known Nelson for an awful long time. I was with him a couple of weeks ago. It's not the sort of thing Nelson would say meaning something bad.
"He probably thinks lots of things he says which might upset us or might feel a little bit offensive…. to him it's nothing. It's just part of conversation.
"Nelson would never go out of his way to say anything bad, certainly.
"I think what probably happened, knowing Nelson as I know him, as his daughter is the girlfriend of Max Verstappen, probably after seeing the accident, he probably exploded and carried that forward."
This prompted an angry retort from Hamilton, who said: "To hear from someone (Ecclestone) who ultimately believes in the war which is is killing thousands of people and they support the person who is doing that is beyond me.
"I cannot believe that is what I heard today. It is effecting people all people around the world. This is going to put us back decade. We are still yet to see the brunt of the pain it is going to cause the world."
RUNNING UP THAT HILL
F1 icon Damon Hill has demanded Piquet be punished for his disgraceful comments.
Hill said: "This [Piquet's comment] was a case of there being verifiable evidence that something was said and done.
"You've got Juri Vips as well – swift action has been taken against Juri.
"We have to be sure that the sport is not just nodding in the direction of political correctness. It has to be absolutely clear.
"For a long time, I've wished that the sport upheld and made it abundantly clear that it upholds certain values.
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"But the argument against that was they couldn't be political. That's what their response was, it was we're not a political organisation, we can't.
"But this is not politics. This is decent human values. And surely a sport should be about those things."
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