Mercedes racer Lewis Hamilton faced a collision with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri on Sunday during the Italian Grand Prix. Piastri was at eighth spot while he made contact with Hamilton with 10 laps from the end at the entry to the Variante della Roggia. While trying to overtake Piastri, the British racer drifted to the right and into McLaren, resulting in a collision. The strike forced Piastri out of top-10 contention as he had to pit for a new front wing. Following the incident, Hamilton admitted that it was totally his fault. The seven-time Formula One world champion even said that he had apologised to the McLaren rookie.
“It was a bit unfortunate and I misjudged the gap I had with Piastri right at the end. It was totally my fault and I went and apologised to him straight afterwards and we move on,” Hamilton told reporters.
Reflecting on the incident, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff commended Hamilton for confessing his mistake. “He’s very sportsmanlike of these things. And he is the only one that I see out there admitting and saying ‘got this wrong’. We just had a chat (and he said) ‘didn’t see him on the right and it goes on me.’ Pretty much everyone is otherwise complaining and moaning just to try not to get a penalty,” Toto Wolff said.
Oscar Piastri, on the other hand, said that he could not have asked for more than an apology from Lewis Hamilton. “The incident with Lewis, he probably just creeped over a bit more than he thought. The stewards gave out their verdict and he has apologised so there is nothing more I can ask for or do at that point,” Piastri was quoted as saying by Sky Sports.
Hamilton was handed a five-second time penalty for the collision with Piastri. Despite the incident, the 38-year-old earned a sixth-placed finish at the Italian Grand Prix. Hamilton overtook Alex Albon and Lando Norris to finish sixth. In the drivers’ championships, Hamilton is right now placed at fourth spot with 164 points to his name.
Piastri was the one who had to face the brunt of the collision. The Australian racer’s car was not only damaged but also the collision ruined his chances of securing a top-10 finish. The 22-year-old eventually claimed 12th spot at the Italian Grand Prix.
Meanwhile, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen carried forward his brilliance to extend his unbeaten run to 10 races at the Italian Grand Prix. The runaway Formula One leader broke Sebastian Vettel’s record of nine consecutive race wins. Verstappen defeated his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez by 6.064 seconds to earn the top spot at Monza.
