Lewis Hamilton hailed Pierre Gasly’s stunning victory in the Italian Grand Prix while taking full responsibility for his race-losing penalty. Hamilton was on course to extend his lead at the top of the Championship when both his title contenders Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas had bad starts. Hamilton headed for the pits as is often customary under caution periods – but, due to the positioning of the stricken Haas car, race control had closed the service road, with red crosses displaying on marker boards on the outside of the final corner, the Parabolica, to signify that drivers should not enter.
“My race wasn’t meant to be today, it was a bit unfortunate. Honestly, I didn’t see those boards so I take responsibility for that.” Hamilton said. “It’s something I will learn from.”
“I’ve obviously seen what he’s been through from being dropped from the top team [Red Bull] and now he’s beat the top team,” he added. “It’s such fantastic to see him recover and to generally see him grow. I am genuinely really happy for him.”
“That was a long pit stop, 26 seconds I had to catch up, but nevertheless once I finally caught everybody I enjoyed that bit of a battle,” Hamiton continued. “To get seventh and fastest lap is some good points considering I definitely didn’t think that was possible from 26 seconds behind the last car. So I will definitely take it and grateful Max didn’t score any points. So not a huge loss today.”
