Verstappen hits out at "insane allegations" about girlfriend

By Tom Cary

Formula One star Max Verstappen has hit out at “insane and ridiculous” accusations made on social media regarding his girlfriend Kelly Piquet, saying the abuse must stop and adding that “hate has no place in this world”.

The three-time Formula One world champion was responding to an emotional statement on social media by Piquet, 35, who is the daughter of fellow triple F1 world champion Nelson Piquet.

In her statement on Instagram, Kelly Piquet wrote that she had “in the past three years been navigating a strange and upsetting wave of accusations, rumours, fabricated situations, fake testimonials and photoshopped screenshots”.

Piquet added that she had stayed silent up until now as she did not want to feed the “ridiculous claims”, but that she had now had enough.

“The online world can be a wonderful place for various reasons, but a very scary one when wrong information and lies are thrown around,” Piquet said. “I am unsure of the appropriate approach to address hate stemming from falsehoods. I have considered composing a response and letting it stand.

“Accusations made in the past months especially have taken on another level of defamation. Those who know me know that I would never put myself in such positions, say certain things or act in such a way.

“I am far from perfect, but I do take pride in my values, morals and manner. Let that be clear. As a human being, the comments and hate affect me and the people around me deeply. I hope this serves as a reminder for people to verify online content before making threats.”

Verstappen, 26, responded to her post, telling his 12 million Instagram followers: “This has to stop. These false accusations by certain individuals on Instagram and TikTok are insane and ridiculous at the same time.

“Hate has no place in this world. We know what’s true within our family and we are very happy together. I love you.”

Verstappen and Piquet have been dating for a number of years. The Brazilian has a daughter, Penelope (with whom Verstappen has a close bond), by former F1 driver Danil Kvyat.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission