Toto Wolff slams ‘moaning’ across F1 grid after Lewis Hamilton apology

Hamilton admitted he was at fault for a collision with Oscar Piastri in Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says Lewis Hamilton bucked the trend by apologising after an incident in Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix, insisting the rest of the F1 grid “complains and moans to try and not get a penalty.”

Hamilton admitted he was at fault for a collision with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri at Monza – he received a five-second time penalty as a result – and apologised to the Australian after the race.

Wolff, who stated that Max Verstappen’s 10^th win in a row was “completely irrelevant”, concurred with Hamilton’s analysis and made a sharp dig at the rest of the field in the process.

“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 told media after the race.

“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.

“These things happen. It was hard racing to overtake here and we’ve seen a few of these. It [the penalty] was justified.”

Ultimately, the penalty had no impact on Hamilton who finished sixth, while the clash cost Piastri a top-10 finish after he had to pit for a new front nose, dropping him down the order. He finished 12^th.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says Lewis Hamilton bucked the trend by apologising (Getty Images)

Hamilton said: “I misjudged the gap I had with Piastri right at the end. It was totally my fault.

“I apologised to him straight afterwards and we move on.”

Piastri, though disappointed with the race-impacting clash, seemed satisfied with Hamilton’s apology.

“He creeped over a bit more than he thought,” Piastri said.

“The stewards gave their verdict and Lewis apologised and nothing more I can ask for or do at that point.”

Hamilton’s team-mate, George Russell, finished fifth in an indifferent weekend for Mercedes in Monza after the pair signed new contracts until the end of the 2025 season.