Lewis Hamilton has received praise from McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, after the Mercedes driver apologised to Oscar Piastri at the Italian Grand Prix.
Hamilton accidently hit Piastri recently at Monza, something which caused the youngster to pit for repairs.
Hamilton had been behind Piastri but quickly caught the Australian following his one and only pit-stop, which saw him fitted with a set of Medium tyres.
As Piastri was on the Hards, he was an easy target for Hamilton.
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Hamilton pulled alongside Piastri on the exit of the opening chicane, with the pair having then gone side-by-side through Turn 3.
When they approached Turn 4, Hamilton cut across the front of Piastri, breaking the Aussie’s front wing.
Hamilton somehow escaped unscathed but was slapped with a five-second time penalty for causing the collision, although this didn’t impact his race result.
He knew that he was in the wrong and instantly apologised to Piastri after the race, something he did whilst the McLaren driver was still in his cockpit.
Stella put the incident down to Hamilton potentially being a “little bit frustrated” but believes that he would’ve gotten ahead of Piastri regardless of the collision.
“I think maybe Lewis got a little frustrated because, in reality, I think Lewis would have overtaken Oscar,” Stella said, as reported by RaceFans.net.
“If not there, he would have overtaken at the next opportunity. So in a similar way, I think there was no need to take too much risk for Lewis because he had the pace to overtake with more margin, I would say.”
Hamilton’s apology to Piastri was caught by the TV directors, with the 22-year-old having admitted after the race that he couldn’t ask for anymore given that not only did the 103-time race winner apologise, he was also given a time penalty.
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Stella was also pleased to see Hamilton apologise and stated that it “shows his qualities” not just as a race but as a “person”.
The McLaren boss insisted that their former driver “definitely has our respect”.
“Lewis is a fair competitor,” Stella said.
“If he apologised it shows his qualities as a competitor and as a person. He definitely has our respect.”