Toto Wolff calls out ‘moaning’ rivals after Lewis Hamilton’s sporting gesture

Toto Wolff has applauded Lewis Hamilton for holding up his hand in his Oscar Piastri crash as he feels “pretty much everyone else” is “always complaining and moaning” in a bid to avoid penalties.

Racing the McLarens for position heading into the final 10 laps of the Italian Grand Prix, Hamilton tried to power past Piastri into the Della Roggia chicane but instead hit the McLaren.

导致Piastri破碎的前翼,who had to pit for repairs, while Hamilton was handed a five-second penalty for causing a collision.

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Toto Wolff applauds Lewis Hamilton’s sportsmanship

After the race the Briton went over to McLaren to apologise, telling the media including PlanetF1.com that it was “important” he did that because the crash was“obviously my fault”.

Piastri acknowledged the apology, saying he “can’t ask for anything other than that” but unfortunately it did ruin his race.

He finished outside the points in 12th place while Hamilton was able to pass Lando Norris and then Alex Albon before building up a buffer that negated his penalty.

Wolff accepts it was a penalty that his driver deserved.

“Yes, that was a mistake, and there are five-second penalties for that as the menu says,” the Mercedes motorsport boss told media including PlanetF1.com. “These things happen.

“It was hard racing to overtake here and we’ve seen a few of these. It was justified.”

The Austrian applauded his driver for apologising to Piastri as that shows his sporting side, which is in contrast to “pretty much everyone else” on the grid.

“Lewis is very sportsmanlike with these things. And he is the only one that I see out there admitting, saying that he’s wrong,” Wolff added.

“We just had a chat and he said ‘I didn’t see him on the right and that is on me.’

“And I think that kind of sportsmanship is what you need to admire with him.

“Pretty much everyone else is complaining and moaning just to try to not get a penalty.”

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Hamilton’s teammate George Russell joined him on the stewards’ naughty list with the 25-year-old handed a five-second penalty for gaining an advantage off the track.

He found himself up against Esteban Ocon after his pit stop and was side-by-side with the Alpine driver into the first chicane where he tried to muscle his way through on the inside.

But taking to the escape raod and gaining an advantage, Russell was hit with a penalty which Wolff feels was deserved.

“I think you can justify both punishments,” he told Sky Sports about his drivers’ incidents. “so we are going to look at that and how we can prevent it in the future.”

Russell finished theItalian Grand Prixin fifth place with Hamilton P6.

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