The 2023 Italian Grand Prix managed to deliver one of the most exhilarating races of this season, with Ferrari finally putting up a tough fight against a cruising Max Verstappen. But, what’s more, the action wasn’t just restricted to the top three, as Alex Albon triggered an incredible battle for P6 with Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton, and Oscar Piastri.
The four Mercedes-powered challengers portrayed a series of incredible wheel-to-wheel racing, including dramatic plunges into the cramped turn 1 and shocking collisions. The latter, especially, reached the headlines after Hamilton caused an unintentional collision with Piastri, as the pair battled hard for P8 heading into turn 4.
Hamilton made the classic ‘switcheroo’ into the first chicane, consequently gaining a better exit out of turn 2 and looking at a cleaner run to turn 4. However, despite the better getaway, McLaren’s straight line somehow leveled the pace with Hamilton, as the two drivers raced side-by-side to the narrow fourth corner.
Lewis Hamilton approached Oscar Piastri after the race to apologise for the incident. pic.twitter.com/qRJF0mLQn6
— deni (@fiagirly) September 3, 2023
Unfortunately, Hamilton ended up crashing into Piastri while looking to get onto the racing line, leaving the Australian with a broken front wing. While Hamilton almost immediately fired up and raced his way to P6 despite enduring the 5-second penalty, Piastri left the weekend empty-handed. Therefore, right after the race, the Mercedes driver walked straight to Piastri in the parc ferme and apologized for the crash.
Oscar Piastri not keen on escalating the issue with Lewis Hamilton
Hamilton did everything possible to make things right with Piastri, after denying the Australian a decent points haul at Monza. Not only did Hamilton endure a penalty, but he also accepted the blame, apologized to the victim, and publicly owned up to his mistake on the track. Therefore, when asked about the incident with the record-equaling world champion, the McLaren driver had pretty much nothing to say.
#ItalianGP 🇮🇹: Oscar Piastri on his incident with Lewis Hamilton: “He apologised and the stewards gave that penalty. I can’t ask for anything other than that.”
“I think he just moved a bit too far to the right, but it’s very easy to do that in that corner [because] it’s very…
— deni (@fiagirly) September 3, 2023
“I think [he] just moved a bit too far to the right, but I think it’s very easy to do in that corner. It’s very narrow,” he said according to Motorsport. “He apologised and the stewards gave that penalty. I can’t ask for anything other than that.”
Following the Italian GP, Mercedes F1 boss, Toto Wolff, lauded his lead driver for taking the blame without hesitation and barely showing any resistance on the team radio. Overall, after an incident-filled weekend in Italy, how is the Singapore Grand Prix going to turn out for F1 in a couple of weeks’ time? Let’s see what the future holds.
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