“Only Hamilton Admits to Mistakes”: Dismissing F1 Legend’s “Complaining” Accusations, Wolff Defends Lewis After $150,000 Sins

It was just a few weeks ago that Lewis Hamilton said this: “I think the FIA should probably put a time when everyone is allowed to start developing next year’s car so that no one can get an advantage on the next year because that sucks.” After hearing that Red Bull has already shifted focus to 2024 while still annihilating the field with its RB19 this season, Hamilton suggested this to restrict Max Verstappen and Red Bull’s dominance. To add to this—which F1 legend Juan Pablo Montoya feels is quite hypocritical—the seven-time champion expressed his concerns for Formula 1’s future if the dominance continued any longer.  

In a conversation with MyBettingSites, Montoya accused Hamilton of complaining about dominance when he, too, was leading one era of it. Montoya said, “It’s funny because Lewis keeps saying how unfair it is…He is already predicting that Max will also win next year. But if you look back at his period of dominance, we were all happy for him.” As accurate as that may be, Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff dismissed the accusation by making an assertive claim.

Toto Wolff praised Lewis Hamilton after his post-race actions

Towards the end of the Italian GP, Hamilton—in a pacey Mercedes W14—was stuck in P9 behind the McLaren of Oscar Piastri. Trying desperately to make a move on the Aussie, the 38-year-old finally got the chance on Lap 41 of 51. But as they went side-by-side through Turn 3, Hamilton turned in slightly on the McLaren while approaching the braking point for Turn 4. Although the contact didn’t damage the W14, Piastri had to make a pitstop to change his $150,000 damaged front wing. 

Even though the seven-time champion received a five-second penalty for the incident, he made up two more places and enough time to retain P6 after the race. The thing is, he knew he was at fault for the incident and immediately radioed in and said, “I didn’t give him enough space.” After the race, he went up to Piastri and apologized as well. Speaking about Hamilton owning up to his mistake, Toto Wolff said, as quoted by formu1a.uno, “He’s very sportsmanlike with these things. He is the only one I see out there admitting and saying: ‘I got this wrong.'”

The Austrian continued, “We just had a chat. He said, ‘I didn’t see him on the right, and it was on me.’ That kind of sportsmanship is what you need to admire with him. Pretty much everyone is always complaining and moaning just to try to not get a penalty.” While Montoya accused Hamilton of complaining, Wolff accused every other driver of the same. As (controversially) interesting his comments were, this wasn’t the only interesting statement Wolff made post the Italian GP.

Read More: Lewis Hamilton’s Personal Vendetta Against Max Verstappen Slammed After Extremely Harsh Insult

Toto Wolff jumped on the insult bandwagon and undermined Verstappen

A few days ago, Hamilton—in an attempt to downplay Max Verstappen‘s dominance, said, “In my personal opinion, Valtteri [Bottas] and all my teammates have been stronger than the teammates Max has had.” Verstappen wasn’t too affected by the insult because just two days later, he did what no one else in F1 has ever done—win 10 races in a row—firmly establishing his name as one that’ll forever be part of the record books.

Considering that Wolff has experienced his fair share of dominance and knows what it takes to stay at the top, you would think he’d have appreciated what Verstappen achieved in Monza. When asked what he thinks about the Dutchman’s record, Wolff said, “I mean, our situation was maybe a little bit different because we had two guys fighting against each other within the team. Those numbers are for Wikipedia. Nobody reads that anyway.”

What do you think about Wolff’s opinion that Lewis Hamilton is the only driver who owns up to his mistakes? Were you surprised to hear what he had to say about Max Verstappen?

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