Nelson Piquet is blasted for his racist comment about Lewis Hamilton in this video

A big row has erupted in Formula 1 over Nelson Piquet's recent remarks about Lewis Hamilton.

The controversy has arisen because the three-time Formula 1 world champion (1981, 1983 and 1987) used the Portuguese term "neginho" ("little n****r").

He used the word when talking about what happened at Silverstone last year between Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

The two collided on the first lap of the race and the Red Bull driver ended up crashing into the wall at very high speed and was taken to hospital for checks.

Hamilton was awarded a 10-second time penalty, but that didn't stop him coming back, without Verstappen on track, to win his home race.

Piquet - who is the father of model Kelly Piquet, Verstappen's partner - was interviewed and asked about this accident.

It was compared to Ayrton Senna's manoeuvre on Alain Prost in the 1990 title fight at Suzuka in Japan.

"What happened at Silverstone? The 'neginho' [Hamilton] put the car up the inside and drove off," Piquet said.

"Senna didn't do that. Senna went straight on. Do you really think he wasn't going to spin?

"He was like 'I'm going to do it here anyway'. The 'neginho' put the car in and went because there was no way two cars were going to go through that corner. He played dirty."

Criticism of Nelson Piquet from F1 and Mercedes

That derogatory and racist term has triggered the reaction of both F1 itself and the Mercedes team.

"Discriminatory or racist language is unacceptable in any form and has no place in society," F1 stated.

"Lewis is an incredible ambassador for our sport and deserves respect.

"The relentless efforts to increase diversity and inclusion are a lesson to all and something we are committed to in F1."

Mercedes have also spoken out about the interview.

"We strongly condemn any use of racist or discriminatory language," they said.

"Lewis has led our sport's efforts to combat racism and is a true champion of diversity on and off the track.

"Together we share a vision of diverse and inclusive competition and this incident underlines the fundamental importance of continuing to strive for a bright future."