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Lewis Hamilton has apologised to Oscar Piastri for an Italian Grand Prix collision that cost the McLaren driver a top-1o finish.
Hunting down Piastri for eighth place, Hamilton’s additional pace on the medium compound Pirellis compared to the hard tyres on Piastri’s MCL60, allowed the seven-time F1 champion the opportunity to make what initially appeared to be a straightforward pass on lap 41.
But on the approach to the second chicane, the Variante della Roggia, Hamilton misjudged his move across on Piastri in order to take the racing line into the left-right hander, leading to a clash that broke the front wing on the MCL60.
Hamilton escaped without damage to his Mercedes, and although he was handed a five-second penalty for causing a collision, after going on to overtake the second McLaren of Lando Norris and Alex Albon in his Williams, managed to open up enough of a gap on the latter by the chequered flag that he held on to sixth position.
As for Piastri, the second stop dropped him to 14th, and although he managed to finish 11th, a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage dropped him behind AlphaTauri’s Liam Lawson to 12th.
Piastri confirmed to media post-race, including Speedcafe, that he endured a race in which “not a whole lot went right”, with “the contact with Lewis the biggest point”.
The 22-year-old Melburnian added: “He apologised, and the stewards gave out a penalty, so I can’t ask for anything other than that.”
Analysing the incident, Piastri added: “He just moved a bit too far to the right. It’s very easy to do in that corner. It’s very narrow.
“As I say, he came and apologised, so I don’t think there’s much more to it than that.”
Hamilton took full responsibility, conceding: “It was obviously my fault, and it wasn’t intentional.
“I got up alongside and just misjudged the gap I had to the right and clipped him. It could happen at any time.
“I knew shortly afterwards it must have been my fault, and I wanted to make sure he knew it wasn’t intentional. That’s what gentlemen do.”
Hamilton made an offsetting strategy pay dividends as he started the race on used hards, compared to the majority of those around him who were on new mediums.
The 38-year-old, who had expected to run to lap 35 before switching, was left surprised when called in just after the midway point of the 51-lap race to take on the mediums.
Hamilton had to bide his time before making the moves on Piastri, Norris and Albon that would ultimately allow him to collect eight points and move him to within six of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, who currently holds third in the drivers’ standings.
“They said the lap before I pitted that I was going to target, then suddenly they boxed me, so I was a little bit confused,” said Hamilton.
“And then I was definitely concerned that I might not make it to the end, with the gap large between myself and McLaren. I even dropped back behind an Aston (Alonso).
“At that point, I realised what my trajectory might be, so I took care of the tyres, closed the gap, and had that good battle.”
