The three-time former world champion used the phrase in a podcast when he described how Hamilton lost the 2016 championship to Nico Rosberg.
He said of Hamilton: [racist term] It must have been [homophobic slur] at that time. He was very bad. “
It comes days after Pique “wholeheartedly” apologized to Hamilton for using racist slander.
The 69-year-old is said to have used language equivalent to or similar to the word N while discussing a clash between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen in a 2021 Brazilian podcast.
Addressing that interview, Pique said he “strongly condemned” any suggestion that his comments were deliberately racist – and said it had been mistranslated as the interview was in Portuguese.
The British Racing Club – which owns the Silverstone circuit that hosts the British Grand Prix – has now suspended Pique’s honorary membership.
Sky Sports News understands that Pique will not be allowed to return to the paddock after his comments.
SSN reporter Craig Slater said: “Pique spoke in colloquial Brazilian-Portuguese, which was part of the controversy we had in the past about other high-profile athletes.
“He has apologized, but I understand that this was beyond pale and that in the near future he will not be welcome back in the yoke of Formula 1.”
Image: Nelson Piquet was photographed at the Austrian Grand Prix 2018 PIC: AP
After Pique’s statements first came to light, the Formula 1 board and Hamilton Mercedes’s team immediately condemned “in the strongest terms any use of racist or discriminatory language of any kind”.
Hamilton also responded by writing on Twitter: “It’s more than just language. These archaic mentalities need to change and have no place in our sport. I was surrounded by these attitudes and I aimed for my whole life. There was a lot of time to learn. It’s time for action. “
Former F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone has defended Piquet – saying he was surprised Hamilton had not “sidelined” him and defended Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Without naming Pique or Ecclestone, Hamilton said: “I do not know why we continue to give these older voices a platform because they talk about our sport and we want to go somewhere completely different. And it does not represent, I think, who we are as a sport now and where do we intend to go.
“These old voices, you know, either subconsciously or consciously, do not agree that people like me, for example, should be in a sport like this, they do not agree that women should be here.”
Picture: Max Verstappen of Red Bull with his girlfriend Kelly Piquet
F1 co-driver Max Verstappen, who ranks first and is related to Piquet’s daughter, said the man he called his father-in-law had used a “very, very offensive word” – but added that he did not consider it to be racist.
Pique said he believed discrimination did not have a place in F1 or in society – and referring to the language he used, he added: It was widely and historically used in Portuguese spoken Brazilian as a synonym for “type” or “person” and was never intended to offend.
“I would never use the word I have been accused of in some translations. I strongly condemn any suspicion that the word was used by me in order to underestimate a driver because of the color of his skin.”
