Lewis Hamilton should have been handed a drive-through penalty for his crash with Oscar Piastri at Monza, according to former F1 team boss Paul Stoddart. Hamilton and Piastri were jostling for eighth in the latter stages of the Italian Grand Prix when they both collided with one another.
Both drivers were forced down the escape road with Piastri coming off worst out of the two as he had to pit for a new front wing. That effectively ruined the Aussie’s race as he was unable to finish inside the points.
Hamilton was subsequently handed a five-second penalty with race officials deeming the Briton responsible for the collision. But the Mercedes star was able to continue before finishing sixth and his final position wasn’t affected by the sanction.
Hamilton was apologetic when the race had finished, going over to Piastri immediately after getting out of his own car to say sorry to his rival. Piastri accepted his apology, but Stoddart believes the FIA should have been more strict in dishing out a harsher punishment for Hamilton.
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“The punishment for Lewis Hamilton for his collision with Oscar Piastri was not enough,” he told RacingNews365. “In such a situation where it was so clear, it should have been a drive-through.
“It’s very difficult when you’re sitting in the stewards’ room and you’re trying to determine the right penalty. They’ve been pretty consistent with the five-second penalties, but there are times – and this was one of them – when five seconds isn’t good enough when you look at the other driver’s race.
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“With Lewis it was not the first time he did it. At Silverstone we saw Verstappen in the wall and that was a drive-through penalty, and for me at Monza it was a drive-through that would have completely ruined his race, just like Piastri.”
The incident at Silverstone happened in the eventful 2021 British Grand Prix, where Hamilton was given a 10-second time penalty for his involvement. Red Bull was furious with the level of penalty against Hamilton, launching a ‘petition for review’.
Christian Horner wanted Hamilton sanctioned even further for the collision, which saw Verstappen collide into the barriers at 180mph.
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