Lewis Hamilton takes immediate action after Oscar Piastri collison at Monza

Henry Valantine 03 Sep 2023 5:48 PM

Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri tangle at Monza.

Lewis Hamilton went to apologise to Oscar Piastri after their tangle during the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, taking responsibility for the contact they had during the race.

汉密尔顿正在超越迈凯轮开车r into the Della Roggia Chicane, but the two drivers tagged wheels and were both sent into the escape road – Piastri suffering wing damage and being forced to pit, dropping him out of the points positions.

Hamilton was given a five-second penalty for being found to have caused the collision by the stewards, but the seven-time World Champion made sure to apologise to the rookie in person after the race.

Lewis Hamilton apologises for ‘unintentional’ Oscar Piastri contact

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

With the McLaren driver having been cost points by being forced to pit again, Hamilton revealed after the chequered flag that he went to speak to the young Australian about his view of their incident.

Piastri and McLaren firmly put the blame on the Mercedes driver for what happened, but rather than fight his case, Hamilton accepted responsibility for what took place.

“It was important because it was obviously in my fault and it naturally wasn’t intentional,” Hamilton told media including PlanetF1.com after the race.

“Got up alongside and just misjudged the gap that I had to the right, clipped him and it could happen at any time.

“But I knew shortly afterwards it must have been my fault, so I wanted to make sure he knew that it wasn’t intentional. That’s what gentlemen do, right?”

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Hamilton eventually crossed the line sixth after rejoining the track, going on to pass Piastri’s McLaren team-mate Lando Norris and Williams’ Alex Albon on the road.

But when news of his five-second penalty came through, he not only had to get past those in front, he had to pull enough of a gap in a short period of time to hold onto his position once his penalty was applied.

But with medium tyres on compared to hards on those behind, he was able to do so, though he initially appeared frustrated over team radio at having to do a longer stint than anticipated on his tyre set.

Though with hindsight, he was able to explain what happened in that moment.

“I definitely wasn’t upset,” Hamilton said.

“I was supposed to go to lap 35 and the pace didn’t feel that great at that point, but they stopped me.

“The lap before or the lap I pitted, they said that I was going to target and then all of a sudden they’re boxing me.

“So I was a little bit confused with that, that’s all, and then I was definitely concerned that I might not make it to the end.

“And the gap was large between myself and the Mclarens. I dropped back behind an Aston, so I didn’t at that point realise what my trajectory might be, but I took care of the tyres, closed the gap and had that good battle.”