Pastor Maldonado’s move on Lewis Hamilton in qualifying at Spa was not the first time that the Veneuzuelan has got into trouble in the course of his career, notably at Monaco in 2005 when he was given a four-race ban from the Renault World Series after ignoring yellow warning flags and hitting and seriously injuring a track marshal.
I didn’t know that, thx. It’s best to keep it on the low down for now. Do you have any opinions on the incident?
more the reason to cut his super license up into little pieces and use it as confetti to celebrate Hamilton’s win tomorrow… examples must be set.
Would appreciate you posting the outcome of this when you know it.
Not the first time Hamilton has been in trouble either.
So your point is?
Maybe the problem arises from being sponsored by an outfit who doesn’t care about their public image . . . i really want to see response from the team, not the stewards. Must breach contract somewhere. Drop him for a race or two. Take any of the kids being pushed up to F1 from below.
Meanwhile Chavez is ruffling feathers demanding physical gold stored elsewhere . . . good luck with that one . . but asset grabs often precede real – social – financial calamities. Russia on the case also. So not just south american nut job economics.
Having watched the incident again i cant help but think they were both to blame, Hamilton moved twice, once sharply and then drifted towards Maldonado. Certainly Hamilton was not blameless.
There is never any room for tolerance of blatantly purposeful collisions in open-wheelers.
Pastor would be lucky if he gets away with a hefty Fine$ and just a one-race ban to sit out Spa alone. Anything less would be a poor precedent for the FIA to set. The FIA Stewards may well throw him out from the grid for this weekend, and ALSO defer into a hearing of ‘unsporting or dangerous behaviour’ to FIA in Paris.
Very stupid effort Mr. PM. JF
I may be a additionally biased by watching last night a BBC docu featuring David Tremayne, about the racing fatalities which still hung in the air as i came into this world. Damned right there’s a reason for these rules. Worth looking up if you have iplayer access, i had read many though far from all the stories, but the footage put me in my place. It’s not graphic, whatever that is supposed to mean, if it relates history to learn from. Not casual viewing, mind. – j
Not often something shocks me in F1 these days, if Maldonado doesn’t miss some races for that I’d be astounded – no place for that in karts let alone the pinnacle of motorsport, a shame because PM has had an impressive year.
What do you make of it Joe, slap on the wrist, race ban?
Maldonado, for one second, disconnected his brain and thought he was racing in Nascar…
It might have been the damp track and lack of traction control that caused this incident…?
With a name like Pastor you may be expecting a kindly vicar!
Tom Adams,
I disagree, i just looped that bit and it looks like Maldonado was trying to retake the racing line left, when clearly behind, as Hamilton was taking the line right for the right left into Les Combes. Where they were, there is a switch along the end of the straight, as you set up for the climb.I believe the “double move” you see is Ham following the line, seeing MAL in his mirror and correcting. You have left right left corners, to the line is right before 05, that is Ham pulling across, he flicks left seeing MAL . . . you also have to consider that the track is not dry dry, so lines will be different slightly . .
also MAL threw away a respectable grid slot.
I would not like to be Pastor taking to Frank right now. Some time after, no official on this, i think because it is that serious.
– john
Need to remember that this was a cool down lap after qualifying.
For people who have never seen that corner first hand, that isn’t a straight but actually quite a curve so Hamilton ‘drifting’ into moldy is rubbish – was he supposed to stick it in the barrier?
As for the jink I don’t think that has any bearing – Hamilton started the jink well after he was passed and to ms looked like he was falling in behind but the other car slowed suddenly so Hamilton had to back out sharpish.
To me a one race ban shoul be a minimum
Sorry, to complete the “Ham double move” [sic] disambiguation, a sane racer having twitched to avoid an incoming car, will assume sense prevails and follower backs off. So then Ham readjusts his line, but by then the incident angle MAL is on puts MAL outside rear view mirrors, and he’s on a straight arc inwards. MAL does not appear to adjust in any way his course.
Please correct me. This one upset me a bit, so may have missed something. Damned fine P2 for Hamilton under duct tape running . . .
I think Martin Haven had it right when he described him some years ago as “the Goran Ivanisevic of motorsport”. And we should be damned glad that Ivanisevic never got near anything so dangerous as a powerful single seat race car.
After watching the videos a couple of times I have no doubts any more, PM was 100% at fault. LH could have been more responsible in a perfect world but there was no, absolutely zero need for an aggressive move like PM made. There is no reason to push someone off the track after the session had ended on your inlap. PM left the racing line to intimidate LH, LH wasn’t buying any of it and PM crashed into him. This is the kind of behaviour you expect playing F1 2010 on the internet against bored teenagers, not from the best racing drivers of the world. I wouldn’t be surprised if we’ll see 1 lonely Williams at the grid tomorrow.
I would impose a one race ban on Pastor Maldonado for this, and remind him of the incident regarding the track marshal.. There is no place for this in open wheel racing at all…
Did you not have time to go into ‘a little history’ of Hamilton?
It was not his first time in trouble either…including being penalised for knocking Maldonado off the track in Monaco.
Clearly the stewards, with all the telemetry available, do not view it as 100% Maldonado’s fault.
To my mind the penalties are poss a little light on both, but well balanced – I was thinking something like 10 grid places for Maldonado, 5 for Lewis.
John (other John), I think you have called that spot on – also remember Lewis was ahead and on the return lap and not expecting anyone to be speeding, and then he suddenly saw PM in his mirrors.
PM – sorry but got to have a ban for that one
To me that´s like a penalty in a football match, depending witch team you are you judge the move. Not just Maldonado is a bad guy also Hamiltons has a tough history. Both of them moves using the car like an arm.
To be fair, lots of drivers have been (rightfully) penalized for ignoring yellow flags. Maldonado’s case is just an example of why that rule is in place.
Ben, Joe doesn´t need a point, that´s the beatu of having a blog. Anyways, there is no point, because both are racers, both are fighting so these things happen. But while Hamilton gets reprimanded for his minor incidents, Maldonado´s shunt WAS a little too rough.