Hamilton and Maldonado come to blows on track

2011 Belgian Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, Spa-Francorchamps, 2011

Update: Maldonado handed penalty, Hamilton gets reprimand

Lewis Hamilton and Pastor Maldonado were involved in a controversial exchange during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix.

Maldonado drove into the side of Hamilton’s car at the exit of La Source at the end of Q2.

Hamilton had passed Maldonado at the final corner of the previous lap, barging alongside the Williams which had been held up by cars in front of him.

After they crossed the line Maldonado drew alongside the Williams and swerved into the side of the McLaren, knocking part of the front wing off.

Speaking in the press conference Hamilton said: “I’ll have to look at it afterwards.

“But I think I was at the end of my Q2 lap. At the chicane as I was just finishing there were two Williams just sitting there going very slowly, I think they were just about to start another lap, but there was already a red light. So I had to try and get past, which I did. And I lost quite a lot of time there.

“Then as I was coming through the exit of turn one I saw Maldonado approaching quite quickly. He came past, he came around me, and I didn’t move anywhere but he happened to swipe across me.

“I don’t know whether it was intentional or not but I guess we’ll see shortly. I just said I’m going to sit here and wait for the stewards to call me up rather than go back to the brand centre.”

After repairs, Hamilton was able to participate in Q3 and take second on the grid: “The front wing was quite badly damaged, my sidepod, and I thought my front suspension was damaged. I think the front toeing is probably a little bit out.

“Fortunately the guys did a great job and put it back together.

“I just think once the flag is out and the red lights are on there’s no need to be racing. There should never, ever be an incident and unfortunately there was.”

The pair previously collided in the Monaco Grand Prix. Maldonado retired from the race due to the incident and Hamilton was given a post-race time penalty.

Update: This is what Maldonado had to say about the collision: “He slowed down a lot at the end of the session, so I tried to go past him. I then felt contact at the back of my car. I don’t really know what happened. It was a difficult moment.”

2011 Belgian Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    221 comments on “Hamilton and Maldonado come to blows on track”

    1. Hamilton moved across the track into Maldonado. Maldonado still shouldn’t have been baiting him, but Hamilton was not innocent in this.

      1. I completely agree. Maldonado goes to pass then points his car in a direction, which doesn’t change until the incident a further 1-2 seconds later.

        Hamilton initially swerves when Maldonado attempts the pass, and then it the one who turns into Maldonado.

        Having said that, Maldonado didn’t need to be pointing his car there and Hamilton was taking the racing line. However Maldonado was ahead at this point and not squeezing Hamilton to the point where there was no track left (at least a cars width was available at the time of incident).

        Hamilton, having being half a cars length behind had every opportunity to see Maldonado was ahead and could have come off the throttle slightly, or waited before turning to the racing line, as there was still plenty of track width available.

        Reprimand for both drivers is likely to be the outcome I would expect.

        1. That’s just nonsense. Maldonado clearly drove up behind Lewis after the chequered flag (end of racing) and swiped at him. Whatever the eventual outcome and response of Hamilton (which seems minor compared to Maldonado’s) the initial aggression out of ‘competitive play’ would receive a match/race ban in almost any sport.

        2. re-watch the incident hamilton is actually moving accross the track and swerves back as maldonado comes up along side him as you do when your pulling out and at the last minute see a car that was in your blind spot. Maldonado effected this action and saw it through to its cowardly end. You got a problem with any other driver no matter who it is deal with it off the track. How many times did we see the greats fighting with each other after on track incidents….maldonado should be sent home!

          1. Totally agree with that interpretation. Maldonado is a rookie non-entity, why the hell does he think he has the right to such petulance? I hope he gets at least a one race ban.

      2. I think Pastor was more to blame for the swipe but I will say Hamilton was not completely innocent here.

      3. Ahhh somebody actually speaks sense! I’m getting pretty sick of the media in general taking the default position of blaming anyone but Hamilton.

        1. i dont know where you live mate, but where i do hamilton is to blame for all, even the financial crisis xD

        2. You’ve turned it completely upside-down, The default position is Hamilton is to blame for everything unless proven otherwise. At Monaco he was even initially blamed on Brazilian TV for the pile up involving Petrov etc.!

        3. hamilton is a hot head and a swerve at and away from another car if that is what everyone is referring to and saying happened is totally different than deliberately driving into another car, this isnt about maldonado or hamilton its about the incident and i’m afraid its unacceptable behaviour. petulant and immature and the last thing we need is immature drivers speeding round circuits at high speed. Though it would lead to more spectacular racing ….lol

        4. Sorry but when Lewis was driving in a straight line up a straight and someone turns onto him its hardly his fault…. Or is that the laws of reality also favouring Lewis?

      4. At the point at which the two made contact, Maldonado was steering towards Hamilton.

        1. Can we get a video linked on here?

          This is the best I can find http://youtu.be/Wzixd6oewTw

          I’d say it was maldonado’s fault but Hamilton was a bit eager to take the racing line, looks like he moves a bit early from that camera. I think both drivers are trying to show each other who’s boss really. Pastor was slow the previous lap and Lewis jumped ahead, then Lewis was slow and Pastor attempted to jump ahead to show he’s not a pushover… except Lewis didn’t just sit back and let him

          1. the racing had FINISHED, WAS OVER, DEFUNCT ENDED and anything else you can think of for not happening, whe Maldonado hit Hamilton.

        2. Is that from onboard video?

        3. yes but lewis, had ruined not one but 2 of maldonados laps. first one at chicane which was 50/50 and probably just about acceptable on lewis part.

          then ruined next lap by going to slow into hairpin. Does lewis know that there are other drivers outside the top 3 teams? on recent performances it appears not.

          either warn both, or give pen to both. you cant give pen for one and not the other. as his reaction was a consequence of lewis actions. Just penalising pastor will tell you its ok to do what you like in qualifying if you drive a mclaren, ferrari or red bull.

          1. You do realize Hamilton was trying to set a time when he passed Maldonado? Welcome to ‘racing’.

            1. at last a voice of reason, this is as you say racing, if a car is in front of you and is slower you over take it…as hamilton did on his lap and maldonado failed to do on his….. as you say sir WELCOME TO RACING.

              jees next you will be asking fo one car at time on the circuit.

          2. You do realise that Maldonado was going slow through the chicane and actually interrupted Lewis’ lap and hit Lewis. The follwing lap was an in-lap as the chequered flag had come out. Lewis moved initially but then realised Maldonado was there so he moved back, and then Maldonado tries to shove Lewis off, no matter how you see it Lewis had nowhere to go. Maldonado has no quality and needs to be sacked!

          3. Wasn’t the time over in that lap already?

        4. 100% ACCURATE.

        5. koby'sleftfoot
          27th August 2011, 16:52

          At the point at which the two made contact Hamilton was also steering towards Maldonado.

        6. Keith, sorry to put in an editorial comment, but a mistake slipped into the text here:

          …Maldonado drew alongside the Williams

          should probably be drew alongside the Mclaren/Hamilton

      5. Hamilton was not innocent in this.

        But is he guilty enough for a penalty?

        I think not.

      6. RUBISH hamilton stayed in one place and pastor carved him up, compleatly maldornados fault!!!

        1. Um, we’re referring to Hamilton’s lunge on Maldonado at the Bust Stop. Maldonado’s sideswipe was clearly retribution for something, and that something was the aggressive dive down the inside on the previous lap. Maldonado evidently felt he’d been wronged, and/or robbed of a competitive lap time, and so decided to take it out on Hamilton.

          Or are you another Hamilton fan who thinks Lord Lewis can do no wrong?

          1. @ prisoner monkey…..the dive up the side of maldonado was during a qualifying lap while the cars were in effect competing for a grid place. Maldonado however attacked after qualifying and not at a time when they were competing for position and THAT is the big difference,

            1. I don’t see much difference between what PM writes and what you write bob.

          2. at the Bust Stop.

            Now there’s a good name for a corner.

            1. PM is letting the American race broadcasters get to him. I only hear that when I watch a Indy or Nascar race. Also watching all the video again. Hamilton is right and maybe you guys shouldn’t be so quick to judge just because of past incidents. Let’s all ignore the fact that Hamilton has been racing very well the past few races and probably has a calm head at the moment on his shoulders. This isn’t Monaco and I don’t know what kind of depth perception some of you have but I’d hate to drive around you if you cant tell Hamilton was in a straight line after Q2 had just ended and then hit by a car cutting across the front of him. I’m sure some of you have experienced being cut off on the motorway, not much different here for Hamilton.

            2. Australian, I think.

        2. remarks like that gives the people who say the media blame ‘everyone but hamilton’ fuel. Hamilton clearly moved s they cam round the first corner, not deliberately in my view, but then carried on in a straight line when ralising someone was beside him. Maldonado however drove straight into the side of hamilton a little further down the road, blatently and deliberately.

      7. Yes. Hamilton is always the one involved in these situations, as the big number of reprimands he has shows.

      8. I think the race stewards saw it the same way I did.

        How many reprimands can Hamilton get before he cops a race ban? Although they are probably scared to do that just in case Hamilton calls ‘racism’ again.

    2. I still can’t see how Hamilton moved towards Pastor, but I’ll be happy if someone can point it out to me. An onboard from both cars would solve all (once again)…

      1. I definitely feel that Lewis moved towards Pastor but I think now that’s only because Pastor hit him from behind first.

        1. even if he moved, there’s no way Lewis was the one to blame in the incident.

          1. That sentence makes little sense. Even if Hamilton swerved into Maldonado, there’s no way he’d be to blame? Get real!

            1. se. Even if Hamilton swerved into Maldonado, there’s no way he’d be to blame? Get real!

              It depends why he moved. Was it because he was first hit by Pastor for example? If so, then he hardly deserves any blame at all.

            2. It makes sense. Lewis moved, fair enough. But Maldonado was the one looking for the crash, not Lewis.

              If Lewis moved or not is totally irrelevant. There was half a track on Maldonado’s side, the crash was totally his fault.

          2. Hamilton had to move slightly – there is a corner in front of him! He pulled back as far left as he could, then Pastor drove into the side of him. Don’t really see how it can be seen any other way.

            Disgusting on Pastors part.

            1. Hamilton still had a car width of track to drive into.

              Also, one thing that people seem to be forgetting. Why didn’t Lewis apply the brakes?
              It wasn’t a racing situation where that would’ve cost him time.

              It’s a very logical reaction for any driver to do, especially one who’s a F1 World Champion…in an F1 car that can stop on a dime.

              Maldonado may have been deliberately trying to ram him, but Hamilton was playing a game of chicken, which is a bit naughty, and not the kind of example F1 should be setting.

            2. Venezuelan F1 Fan
              27th August 2011, 15:51

              No way man!!! Lewis drove into Maldonado. Hamilton deserves to be banned from F1 forever but Pastor didn’t do anything wrong!!!

            3. @ Venezuelan F1 Fan

              Prize for comedy comment of the year!

      2. With you on this one, Damon. The camera angles we had to look at weren’t particularly brilliant. If I see some onboards I can draw my conclusion.

        1. I can’t believe people actually see Hamilton having any fold at this.

          I have no idea what Maldonado was trying to do but it was a very silly move.

          1. simple, he ruined 2 laps for pastor. first one was okish. but then to go slow into turn 1 was pointless and showing for 2nd race running a lack of care for other drivers.

            What Pastor did was very wrong. but with right reason.

            1. Yes obviously Hamilton should feel bad about Pastor because he was caring about his own time and not Pastor’s(you do realize Hamilton was also in flying laps don’t you?).
              What was he thinking trying to do fast laps for his team and self instead of helping Pastor get into Q3. He obviously lost his mind.

            2. The reason he went slow into turn 1, was because the flag was out. Neither Ham or Mal were on timed laps.

            3. …are you really saying that Hamilton shouldn’t have been driving slowly *after* the chequered flag?

      3. I’ve discussed this w u on Twitter, I think I was wrong. Hamilton was probably already forced offline and may have corrected a slide, but Maldonado was so far offline that he drove off circuit. He’s a very naught boy.

        1. and needs his bottom spanked

          1. If Max was still in charge…

    3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wzixd6oewTw

      Hamilton moved first… And collided with him the turn before. I don’t think this is clear-cut at all and both deserve a spanking.

      1. Hamliton was a head at the bus top chicane, so that was Maldonado’s fault as well, should have been watching his mirrors.

        On the run down to Eau Rouge Hamilton seems to have had a little twitch as he was moving to the racing line (which was dry).

      2. I don’t care how stupid Lewis in the 10 seconds before it. There is no excuse for cutting a driver off like Pastor did.

      3. I don’t think Hamilton didn’t move at all, but looking at that video, you get the impression he goes to the right a bit. But the track goes to the right aswell.

        In any case, Maldonado clearly collided with Hamilton, not the other way around. Maldonado was behind and rammed Lewis on the side while passing him.

        1. This is correct, it looks from that camera angle as if lewis turns right but he actually just follows the track. Pastor just runs over to his racing line.

        2. I think you are right there Fer no.65. Lewis seems to want to follow the line into the corner, but then backs out of it as he sees Maldonado next to him.

          Maldonado moves next to him and then cuts him short moving left, where the normal racing line is to the right.

      4. He didn’t collide with him the turn before, he just overtook him.

        1. “Hamliton was a head at the bus top chicane, so that was Maldonado’s fault as well, should have been watching his mirrors.”

          This.

          Maldonado was already angry before the chicance because Barichello ruined his lap. Then Hamilton comes up on him to finish his lap, has every right to overtake, and does it safly.

          Maldonado furious at what just happend, drives into Lewis. On his in-lap, he didnt need to be anywhere near Lewis, he had like 70% of the road to his right, as the road goes right.

          Needs punishing serverly, he has a history of being hot-headed.

          1. Exactly.

            Why the hell was Maldonado anywhere near him….

            Maldonado’s lap was ruined by Barichello blocking him. He tried to do the same to Hamilton but Hamilton was not going to be blocked.

            He’s just a sore loser.

        2. He didn’t collide with him the turn before, he just overtook him.

          There was a contact.

          1. whatever happens when the session is on we can discuss. if two drivers collide once the session has finished is just something else

    4. I’m going to wait and see what the stewards say about this. I know what I think happened, but I’ll wait and see what evidence comes out of the inquiry to say anything about it here.

      1. I should have taken that approach but I like Pastor it seems I just couldn’t keep my impulses under control :P

      2. That’s the most sensible thing I’ve read about this whole thing. All the knee jerking going in is quite nauseating.

        1. Gets pretty tiring, doesn’t it? I like hearing peoples opinions but you really do get so many disproportionate responses.

          1. It’s completely transparent when people use incidents like this to have a go at drivers they don’t like.

            1. It’s quite amazing how such a clear incident can be misconstrued due to all the Hamilton haters. Here are some of the top arguments:

              1. Hamilton ruined his race in Monaco
              2. Hamilton ruined his lap in the bus-stop chicane (despite the fact that it was more Barichello’s fault)
              3. Hamilton swiped at him first (but didn’t make contact).

              Seriously people, ***. The session was *over*. Why was Maldonado anywhere near him, let alone contending for the same piece of race track. Just ask yourselves people. Who approached Hamilton from behind after the session was over?

            2. That’s exactly why I didn’t bother to comment until now. Previous races or even previous laps have nothing to do with the incident and it’s completely obvious what happens, regardless of each drivers skill, success or previous penalties.

              Revenge is very improper on a race track!

            3. And sadly things like this always bring forward hordes of people like that.

              Poor blog administrators having to filter the really obnoxious ones out.

          2. Well, I know I’ve been guilt of that myself. Even with this and other things today. I think it might be better for me to avoid posting my live reactions online through Twitter and the live blogs and stick to commenting on events after things have calmed down.

            1. I do also try and take a calm view well after the event…not always easy though!

      3. Keep in mind, booting Maldonado out/revoking his license may also mean the end of Williams, this could be a fairly serious decision!

        1. What about Hulkenberg?

          1. No money! That’s why he’s not racing this year.

        2. I doubt that will happen. Considering that Stefan Mucke of GT1/Le Man’s fame got away with this in Silverstone earlier this year…

          http://i.autoblog.com/2011/06/06/watch-as-hot-headed-aston-martin-gt1-racer-retaliates-against-ni/

          1. Nice example.

            And here you are what i call retaliation, on the nascar truck series early this week:

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmx2SaGDFaA&feature=related

            1. now that is retribution at its ugliest and what did nascar do……dont bother fixing the car

    5. I don’t like knee jerk reactions and never have so please forgive me if I do sound a little OT here but the most annoying thing about this (if it was deliberate by Pastor) is that there will probably be a lack of punishment. I should really wait to see what happens but I do hope if Pastor is found guilty that he gets something more substantial than a DSQ or grid drop for this race. On every motor racing ticket sold I believe are the words “motor sport is dangerous” and to drive into a fellow competitor deliberately under any circumstances never mind just a petulant rage is completely unacceptable.

      1. removal of his super license? I personally think this or a minimum of a 3 race ban

        1. If he did it deliberately, revoking his super license should be the only option. No place in F1 for people like that when far more talented drivers are fighting for a drive.

          1. ? if he you banned every driver that has weaved towards someone on a slow down lap half the grid would be missing!! and that includes lewis, fernando and michael.

            1. Maldonado however took the swerving thing one step further

      2. Yes. If it was indeed deliberate, how is it any better than Piquet in Singapore? It could have been a much bigger accident as they weren’t going slow.

        1. i think it’s worse than Piquet in Singapore

          1. Well Piquet crash on purpose with (i believe) little/no intent to harm/damage anyone but himself and aid his team.

            What happened today was (again, i believe) an attempt by Maldonado to gain some revenge through his actions. Perhaps he didnt mean to actually make contact but to show Hamilton his displeasure, perhaps he knew exactly what he was doing. I dont know what he was thinking, but if your cutting someone up in whats pretty much the widest part of the track, I firmly believe he had some intent to do it.

      3. There was a request to have Stefan Mucke’s license withdrawn following a similar incident at Silverstone in a GT race earlier this year.

        Unfortunately it’s not the first time Maldonado has been irresponsible. He had a four race ban after ignoring yellow flags and injuring a marshal in one of the lower formulae.

    6. i don’t understand people trying to defend Maldonado here, probably Hamilton haters. Mature response from Lewis

      1. Geordie Porker
        27th August 2011, 14:55

        +1 – after some of his child like finger pointing in the past, this is a welcome relief and regardless of anything else, for HAM fans like me, this is a very welcome outcome to these events: a mature, considered response

      2. That swerve into Maldonado was real mature…

        1. my first view of it also saw a swerve towards Maldonado. After viewing it many times again, i think it’s clear Lewis was simply taking up the racing line, and then quickly moved back off it to the left when he realised Maldonado was being overly racy

        2. In the replay if you look at the distance between hamilton and the grass on his left, it stays constant. Hence he is following the curve of the road. Maldonado has 70 % of the road and should turn right to get past hamilton cleany, instead he goes straight on, Hitting Hamilton. He could have avoided hamilton since he was the only one who could properly see the other (because he was behind)..

        3. Geordie Porker
          27th August 2011, 15:58

          cduk – I understand what you mean, but as I’ve said elsewhere, Hamilton’s “swerve” is HUGELY accentuated by the fact that he changes his mind and turns back *away* from Maldonado.

          Without seeing some new angles or some sort of telemetry based re-creation, I don’t think anyone can be absolutely clear on where the fault lies, but I can’t help think Maldonado carries at least 90% of the blame for this because the checkered flag is out so there’s NO NEED TO OVERTAKE Hamilton – and given that he wanted to, you have to say that he did it whilst leaving over 50% of the race-track to his right at all times….

    7. Ugandan Discussions
      27th August 2011, 14:48

      I am really waiting what the stewards’ decision is going to be. If Maldonado was trying to settle the Monaco score by giving Hamilton payback, then by all means he should be disqualified from this race.

    8. Hamilton gave Mal. a cheeky love kiss during a hot flying lap when he had track position. Mal. gave Hamilton an aggressive bite when both cars were on a cool down lap after the session had finished. It is absurd to defend a man who is bald at 20 odd, wears braces and hasn’t scored a point all year….jokes aside, I feel Hamilton was not to blame. Race ban or grid drop for Mal please FIA.

    9. Without telemetry I don’t think any of us can say what happened, both looked a bit twitchy. Wouldn’t have happened in Maldonado didn’t feel a need to pull alongside on an in-lap either way. Madness all round.

    10. Both drivers are at fault, and should both receive penalties.

      Maldonado did come alongside Hamilton, and turn towards Hamilton away from the racing line.
      Hamilton made an initial flick while Maldonado was very close behind him, causing Maldonado to react. Hamilton then started to turn towards the racing line (even though the session had finished), as Maldonado was turning towards him. If Hamilton didn’t want a collision, he had at least a car width of track to drive into, but he didn’t.

      Very stupid actions on the part of both drivers.

    11. Is this whats been missiing in F1 since we lost the likes of senna etc.It may not be ‘sporting’, but it does spice things up.

    12. First and foremost, look for a MOTIVE!!!!! Lewis had no beef, he did what he needed to do to get his q3 position, so he would have no motive to do anything snide to pastor. He must have seen the queue of cars coming into the bus stop so he knew he’d have to get tight, which he did successfully and got his time in. Therefore he had NO REASON to swipe, turn in, aggravate or do anything else bad to Maldonado or a Williams. It was purely a rage moment from pastor, and his intended ‘kiss’ turned into a full on crash because he can’t drive….

      1. Why did he make that initial flick towards Maldonado?

        As for Hamiltons motive, maybe he felt that Maldonado caused him to lose time on his qualifying lap.

        1. He didn’t flick towards Maldonado, he flicked away…

        2. DavidS, get a grip on yourself, what you call a flick towards Maldonado was Lewis making a lazy turn back to the dry section after the session was over, he was not expecting to be overtaken let alone buzzed at high speed by any other cars as they were all on their in-lap. Seeing Maldonado he jinked left on a wet track and had to steer right to correct back to straight ahead having given room to the passing car only to have the passing car dive across and hit him. Sorry if you don’t like Hamilton or are in love with Maldonado but the only thing Hamilton is guilty of is relaxing at the end of the session.

      2. Lauda on RTL Germany would have you believe HAM wanted to slow a bit and show MAL his fist or something to make clear to next time move aside quicker. Not sure where he got that, but there’s your motive. If you believe it.

        1. Lauda will soon be eating his words about that.

        2. Lauda should check himself into a loony house.

    13. Here’s an interesting couple of photos of the incident:

      http://hotproxy02.twitpic.com/photos/full/382970045.jpg

      1. The track curves, Pastor went straight…

        However, pictures are like statistics… They can prove anything.

        1. Well they certainly prove that Mal was in front when HAM hit him.

      2. Why is it we always get crappy blurry pictures for stuff like this, I thought we were meant to be in HD? :P

    14. I didn’t watch the qualifying, I have no idea what happened between Hamilton and Maldonado but I’m sure they’ll find Lewis guilty somehow.

    15. If you watch a video you can actually see that Hamilton actually swerves towards Maldonado twice, the second time as Maldonado is swerving towards him.

      1. Yes because on a slowing down lap he was probably confused as to why someone wanted to go round. So he didn’t know whether to get off the racing line or stay on it, and that, my friend, explains the twitching. Your comments have been popping up on all articles, I’m guessing you’re Venezuelan?

      2. I disagree, I think it looks like Hamilton is sweaving the first time because he suddenly realises Maldanado is on his right and quickly turns to the left. Then he just cruises towards the racing line without any sudden movement as Maldanado crashes into him. That being said Hamilton could’ve avoided Maldanado but I doubt Hamilton is the type of driver you can bully into changing direction. I suspect Maldanado will be banned for the race but that is it.

      3. No he doesn’t, he’s moving right because that’s the way the track goes, ig he didn’t he’d take to the grass, numpty!

    16. From my initial impressions of the video it looks like hamilton twitches to the right as if he suddenly sees maldonado and thinks twice about joining the racing line as Pastor is there. Maldonado then drives away from the dry racing line into the side of Lewis. I can’t wait to see the telemetry though. If Maldonado is guilty he should at the very least be excluded from tomorrows race.

      1. thats exactly how I saw it!

    17. Lets have a vote )

    18. Before jumping to conclusions, I’d like to read Maldonado’s response and see some onboards…But even if Maldonado’s to blame here, it makes one think why Hamilton seems to be involved in almost every controversial inciedent on track…

    19. does anybody know or recall of any similar incident/accident after the red lights went on?? is it possible to to get a grid or time penalty if the matter under investigation by the stewards is ON TRACK but OFF SESSION???

    20. from the few replays I saw, I saw Hamilton twitch his car towards maldonado after the hairpin. that said was Maldonado took it a step too far.

    21. I am anything but a Hamilton fan, but this was clearly Maldonado’s fault. If Hamilton moved across, i’d say it was only to follow racing line, he was already in Q3, he wasn’t going to risk damage to his own car. Maldonado deserves at least to be sent to the back of the grid and should nearly be disqualified.

    22. Toothpickbandit
      27th August 2011, 15:01

      If you believe that both cars drove into each other then it comes down to motive. You could say Hamilton turned right as this was the way the track was turning. Absolutely no defence can be made for Maldonado turning off the racing line towards the barrier. Furthermore, why would ham damage his car when he’s got pole to fight for? Mal new he was out so had nothing to lose by damaging his car deliberately.

    23. This is building on what I wrote on the F1 Fanatic Live feed:

      It would be nice to have an overhead camera shot of this of incident. It looks as though Hamilton moves to his right but are we just seeing him taking the corner? Hamilton had so much more to lose from a collision than Maldonado having qualified for Q3. Other camera angles suggests that the blame lies more on Maldonado’s shoulders. If found guilty, never mind disqualification for tomorrow’s race, a ban for the next few races is in order. It’s a downright dangerous to pull a stunt like this especially in such conditions. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and I hope appropriate penalties are given to show that this is not acceptable.

    24. It takes two to tango and I think both drivers are to blame here. Then again, I really didn’t found this scene so bad, so the stewards should give them both a rebuke or a small grid penalty at most.

    25. There was no reason to overtake Lewis, there was no reason to get so close to the back of Lewis before swinging out, there was no reason to overtake so close to him on such a wide part of the track and at speed. Leaving aside the actual collision, those moves were stupid enough considering the flag had dropped!

      1. I agree!
        I can’t really make my mind up on the incident, because i think the camera angle and track turning slightly is confusing. An onboard of Ham and Mal would sort that out. But as you say there was no reason for Maldonardo to get close to Hamilton.
        The sessions was over and they were just cruising back to the pits.

        You often see drivers overtake each other on the in lap, but they leave a lot of room and they only overtake if the other driver is going really slowly, which lewis wasn’t.
        There was just no need for Maldonardo to get that close at such a wide part of the track. He even slipstreamed Hamilton for christs sakes!
        Maldonardo should get told to to come back at FP1 at Monza, or maybe just sit out the rest of the season.
        Revenge can sometimes be justified in a race situation if it doesn’t involve deliberate ramming, but getting that close on an in lap after Q2 is just plain stupid.

    26. Maldo shoud either get a massive multi-race ban or none at all, according to whether it’s deemed deliberate or not, but anything in between would be absurd IMO.

    27. There is no way Hamilton will have wanted to initiate contact. After all, he had another session of qualifying to take part in.

      Hamilton did make a small swerve into Maldonado’s line, akin to a brake test or a way of expressing his dissatisfaction at what had happened at the Bus Stop. That is wrong, and he should be given a warning for such behavior, but as far as Hamilton’s involvement goes, in my opinion that’s it.

      Maldonado on the other hand should really know better. It’s one thing to be a bit hot headed but to do what he did is completely unacceptable. Of course, we don’t know the full story and we don’t have access the the type of camera shots and telemetry that the stewards do and I’d love to be proved wrong, because I hate to think that a driver would be ok with deliberately hitting competitor on track.

      If Maldonado did commit the offence (and from the limited footage I’ve seen, Maldonado was behind when he hit Hamilton which pretty much says it all) then I really hope we see a race ban…

      1. I would think Maldonado just wanted to get close enough to show Hamilton he is not impressed with his driving.

        But still it deserved far more than a meagre 5 place grid drop. Schumacher got more for almost hitting a car last year.

    28. If Hamilton took his head out of his backside for once, he my have seen it coming!!

    29. As the session was over there was no need for Hamilton to expect Maldonado to overtake him after La Source and therefore Hamilton, I think, was moving right, as they all do, on the racing line, which is down the right hand side.
      I think the twitch of Hamiltons is because he is surprised by the passing manoeuvre.
      Hamilton then moves left and Maldonado keeps comong across and side swipes Hamilton.

      Definite DQ at least.

    30. Let’s remember that the rule that gets used when incidents like this occur is “causing an avoidable accident.”

      While Maldonado’s actions were hot headed and stupid, Hamilton did not take any action to avoid the incident, which makes him at least partially responsible.

      1. I sincerely hope you’re not being serious. Look at the footage again, Hamilton is about half a car’s width from the grass, Pastor has like 70% of the track to his right, as the track eases right, he had no buisness being anywhere near Lewis.

      2. David S take your Hamilton hating some place else – it’s quite sad really. This one is as blatant as can be. Maldonado -what were you thinking? That’s right – you weren’t thinking. Goodbye F1 career -you’ve proved yourself a liability and the inability to think. David S- feel free to join Maldonado’s movements – there’s no place for hatred of a F1 driver.

        1. 100% agreed.

        2. no its not that blatent. hamilton after the race said he felt impeded by maldonado, he put his hand out of the car angrily after passing maldonado. he then appeared to slow right infront of maldonado and then jink at him. maybe David S is right, maybe hamilton was as hot headed as maldonado and accelerated into the incident as maldonado was passing him.
          Hamilton sounded sheepish and defensive in post race, and he said he didnt move as maldonado passed him which is a lie.
          goodbye f1 career? hardly – hamilton has driven toyotas off the road at 200mph in monza and his career is still going.
          maybe you should leave f1, not David S – as you obviously cant take an oppinion, which these forum comments are for.

      3. WRONG AGAIN Davids.

    31. In a world with competent TV coverage we’d have seen Maldonado onboard and Lewis rear view of this incident. within minutes after it happened. Right now all the general public sees is a head on shot. Come on FOM. This coverage desperately needs to improve.

      With the little info we have from just that camera angle it’s real hard to determine whodunnit. Hamilton twitches right on corner exit, but that could just as well have been the back stepping out on the wet or even Maldonado giving him a nudge from behind. We need to see these ‘additional angles’ stewards always say they have but that the general public NEVER sees.

      1. The back didn’t step out.
        The track was dry, and he wasn’t on the throttle enough to lose traction.

        1. oh, have you seen other footage then, talked to the drivers. Strange you can catch all that from that one shot we got on the coverage.

          1. Being a fan of motorsport, you should know how a car behaves. The back simply did not step out.

            It was an in lap, no driver gets on the throttle hard on the in lap because of engine life. As for whether or not there was enough traction, Maldonado had plenty.

            I have a HD recording on the incident that I can play back and forth in slow motion if needs be, using that and some common sense, it’s clear that the back did not step out on Lewis’ car, and that it was a flick.

            1. DavidS, you definitely do need to replay that footage because you saw something totally different to almost everybody else.

      2. In a world with competent TV coverage we’d have seen Maldonado onboard and Lewis rear view of this incident. within minutes after it happened. Right now all the general public sees is a head on shot. Come on FOM. This coverage desperately needs to improve.

        I strongly agree with this post.

        1. Me too. In football, the tv has a tendency to quickly prove referees were misguided if they judged a ball to be on the wrong side of a line, while referees are not even allowed to use that same footage. Here the stewards have all the footage and then some, but we don’t see it before the race edit or end of season DVD, if we are lucky.

        2. I’m starting to notice this more and more.

    32. Joe Saward has an interesting Maldano fact.

      A little history

      August 27, 2011 by joesaward

      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.

      1. there are also dirty driving facts about hamilton – including today in quali, there was a yellow flag in sector one and hamilton set the fastest time of sector one while the yellow flag was out.

        1. But there was no penalty, so presumably he didn’t go fastest in that corner? Bad example, surely there are other examples you could give.

    33. “We need to see these ‘additional angles’ stewards always say they have but that the general public NEVER sees.”

      Well, it’s the stewards that ultimately make the final decision, thankfully.

    34. Listen to his comments in the press conference.
      As a helpful hint, I’ll transcribe them for you.

      Uhh, pfff, I’ll have to look at it afterwards, but I think I was on the end of my ugh, my Q2 lap, and uhh, I got to the Chicane as I was just finishing, and there were ugh, two Williams, not ugh, going very slow. I think they were preparing to start for another lap, but it was already red light. And, so I had to get past, which I did, and then {coughs} ugh, I lost quite a lot of time there…

      1. I’m sorry I don’t understand your motive in stating his response verbatim, kind explanation?

        1. The person I was replying to asked me “why would lewis have any motive for swerving”

          I posted that quote with the important bit in bold to show that Hamilton may have felt that Maldonado held him up at the chicane.

          I posted it verbatim because I was trying to be funny. The post I was replying to got deleted because it called me a couple of choice words, and the post became an orphan.

          I posted a follow up post saying that it was OK to delete it (because it was completely out of context), but that post appears to have been deleted…lol

          1. Ah, understood.

            Still, motive or not, any sort of overtaking attempt post-flag resulting in a collision should in my opinion be the responsibility of the overtaker. Hamilton had no need to be aware of anything, what was Maldonado’s hurry, did he have to catch a movie? And Lewis was never going to brake, there ain’t no son of a gun out there who can scare Lewis.

            1. While I agree on the principle that the overtaking driver is responsible for the clean execution of the overtake, I believe that only applies in race situations.

              In race situations, you can’t expect a driver who is being overtaken to take drastic action to avoid an incident, as that would unfairly cost them time.

              However, they weren’t racing, no-one was losing any time or position. In these situations, it is the responsibility of BOTH drivers to avoid a collision.

              They are meant to be setting an example to all drivers. That is the part that most people on here are ignoring. What kind of example would it be if drivers are excused completely from punishment for an incident where the other guy was mostly to blame? The message that would send out is that people are entitled to not take avoiding action if the other guy is doing something dangerous.

      2. This response is about what happened before the finish line, the incident under discussion happened after the finish line.

    35. Keith, I think you’ll find that Hamilton drove into the side of Maldonado’s car.

      1. Thanks mate

    36. In the UK, you get the rear/back far camera angles
      http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9573626.stm

      From the rear, Maldonado has a very obvious straight line general collision course..
      From the front, it looks completely different, the front view looks 50/50, the rear view looks 90/10 blamewise..

    37. F1Fanatic.co.UK(for the win) is, as always when discussing Brits, fair and balanced – on par with Fox News. Where’s Maldonado’s side of the story in this “article”?

      1. I haven’t heard a quote from Maldonado yet so I can’t report one.

        I don’t know why you’re getting so worked up about a domain suffix. It means nothing.

        1. BBC Qualifying as it happened
          1445: And FINALLY here is Pastor Maldonado’s take on his incident with Hamilton: “It was a difficult moment, there was no reason from my side to have contact and from the side of Lewis. It wasn’t rainy conditions and we need to understand what happened. There was no need for contact after the chequered flag.” When asked if he agreed with Hamilton’s claim he had deliberately moved into his McLaren, Maldonado responded: “No, no, I don’t.

          He seems a bit evasive to me, not willing to say he stayed clear, but indicating he didn’t intend to hit HAM. Might have left too little distance?

      2. The point is it’s as clear as day who caused the incident i.e. Maldonado. FYI I’m not British.
        Your suggestion of bias is delusional.

      3. Miko, have you read what DavidS is saying over and over again.

      4. Noone is discussing brits we are discussing racing and Maldano be he british venezuelan or dutch was wrong to drive into hamilto whatever happened before to drive into another driver on purpose is wrong that it hwatever your race religion creed country or colour!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    38. Does anyone agree that we should be provided with full transcripts of what happens in the Stewards meetings after races?

      1. For what reason? So that we can disagree with the decision?

        1. You can disagree/agree with a decision even without the transcript! I just think it would be nice to have first hand info rather than media twisted/distorted info or PR info from the teams…

      2. totally disagree

    39. I don’t get it…why should lewis have applied the breaks?

    40. Maldanado is a disgrace. He was slow in the chicane and held Hamilton up. Hamilton was right to overtake. Maldanado shud get a race ban

      1. why? wasnt he on a qualifying lap too?

        1. @Bus Stop Chicane, Only Hamilton was on a hotlap, not Maldonado. Of course Hamilton was having none of Maldonado holding him up, so he executed an overtake. This was during the session, where cars are allowed to fight for position.
          @La Source – Eau Rouge, The session was over. Both were on in laps.

    41. Race ban for both of them, that will send the message to all the other drivers to keep their attitudes under control.

      1. Not sure why Hamilton should get a race ban? For once, he did nothing wrong.

    42. hmm, this is interesting, i think its maldonados fault at the end of the day, but we have no choice but to leave the FIA to make this decision, baring in mind that they have been quite anti-hamilton for his mistakes, it will be interesting to see what will happen

    43. This is how i saw the incidents.
      1. Hamilton obstructs Maldonado in the final turn of maldonados qualifying lap (maldonado had to miss the apex and lost time on his lap).a bit of wheel contact is made as Maldonado assumes he can take the turn and not be passed in an apex of a qualifying lap.
      2. Hamilton waves his hand in the air in anger (later we find out he thinks maldonado cost him time).
      3. After the battle, at the exit of turn one – Hamilton brake tests Maldonado, then maldonado goes to pass him and Hamilton jinks at him.
      4. Maldonado is at full boil now angry with hamilton and jinks back towards him, i dont believe intending to hit him, but to cut infront of him in an angry way – but he makes contact.

      later being interviewed Hamilton says he felt he lost time in the final turn because of maldonado- but to me (and i think in maldonados mind, maldonado was entitled to a clean run in his qualifying lap), and wasnt being lapped.

      hamilton also sounded sheepish and defensive of the incident saying maldonado came really fast up to him and around him and that he “didnt move”.

      1. by the way im not entirely sure if maldonado was on a flyer,
        but now maldonado has said he didnt do it on purpose, maybe after brake testing and jinking at maldonado (which is what i saw), hamilton sped up as maldonado was passing him causing the crash?
        i think both drivers were in the wrong but, both got hot headed in the moment.

      2. I appreciate where you are coming from but look at the replay of the chicane – Hamilton has the biggest gap ever to fit into on the apex and obviously takes it as he wants the fastest time! He did not shove Maldonado out of the way before the apex, only on the apex when Maldonado had already gone wide and left him the massive gap…

          1. Unfortunately, that only helps those with access to UK IP address.

      3. Dfector, what I saw on SpeedTv replay after the finish line, from behind LH, was LH slowly turning right and then swerving left as Maldonados car comes into the picture behind and to the right of Hamilton, Hamiltons sharp yank on the wheel has destabilised the car and he has to correct slightly to the right to continue in a straight line, at the same time Maldonado swerves left into Hamilton, if you only saw the second of impact you might think that Hamiltons correction was him turning into Maldonado but that is not what happened if you see the full coverage of the incident.

    44. There’s a lot of shameless Hamilton bashing going on here, and I’m not exactly a fan of him. He clearly was the victim in the this case, as Maldonado had absolutely no reason to be so close to him and pushing him off the track. It was an in lap remember, and he had loads of empty track available.
      I think the people saying Hamilton should share the blame need to get their eyes checked.

      1. nice to see a non biased view about hamilton

    45. Maldonado would have been already angry before Hamilton passed him at the chicane, his lap was ruined by Barichello going off infront of him, Hamilton had every sporting and moral right to pass Maldonado as he was on a flying lap himself. Maldonado would been angered further by being passed. After that on the following lap, the session is over, they are both on in-laps and Maldonado had no buisness being near the outside of the track where Lewis was.

      He needs punishing, he has a history of being too hot-headed

    46. I’m just looking forward to the fact that Williams have every excuse to drop Maldonado as a driver now. They might be able to get someone who is not only sporting but who can do a good job of driving their car!

      1. If they drop Maldanado, they can also kiss goodbye a whole heap of sponsorship.

        1. whys that?

    47. That was some WWE/ NASCAR-level nonsense. Hamilton basically did what Maldonado baited him to do. Not mature. I was 25 once too and I know it’s hard to control the temper when you are just a few years from the school yard and some idiot is trying to bully you. but you have to do it. They both need a talking to and probably both need a penalty. You cant let a feud just take care of itself. Sorry to say it as a mclaren fan but you can’t tolerate this garbage in f1. This is not

      1. Scratch ‘this is not.’ Not good at typing on the phone.

    48. I think its definately Maldonados fault. Lewis was just keeping to the driving line and curve of the track whilst Pastor was clearly keeping to a straight trajectory edging to the left of the track after the collision and across the driving line where lewis was. Thats pretty clear in the video.

      Plus, look at the amount of space on the right available, How does Maldonado explain sticking so close to lewis?

    49. Well well, the Hamilton haters are out in force again. Any opportunity to have go at the lad. How anyone can say he is to blame for this incident is just nonsense, and is due to the fact that some people just don’t like him.

      I love his assertive driving style, and pleased he muscled his way past Maldonado to get second on the grid. Maldonado took it as a personal slight and retaliated, when he should have realised that Lewis was trying to get pole or as close to pole as possible. Maldonado should receive a 10 place grid drop for unsporting behaviour.

    50. Well, considering that this is supposed to be an open and shut case, they are certainly taking their time with it!

      1. agreed! i want to know what the FIA does about this

        1. It’s the FIA that are making us wait. They need to look and listen to all of the evidence. Evidence that we haven’t seen or heard.

    51. If these two come even close to eachother in the race I wonder what will happen.

      1. If, somehow, Maldanado is anywhere near Hamilton in the race, then something has gone very wrong for Hamilton.

        1. Unless Hamilton is lapping him…

          1. There is that. But somehow, I don’t think that Maldanado will even be on the track.

    52. look at the grid box’s on the track, hami turns into Maldanado end!

    53. guys download this video, look at the replay, hamilton jinks once (not to take the dry line, but to jink at maldonado), then jinks again, the second jink causing the crash:
      http://darcyf1.com/mattzel/MT89_2011_Formula1_SpaFrancorchamps_QLF_Hamilton_vs_Maldonado.mkv

      1. No, the circuit bends right, after the ‘jink’ Hamilton follows the circuit around, while Maldonado keeps straight (effectivly going left) squeezing Hamilton. Again… they were both on in-laps, session was over, Maldonado didnt need to be anywhere near Lewis. Try as you might, blaming Hamilton for that contact is utterly stupid.

      2. maybe the second jink wasnt a jink, looks to be following the line of the other drivers, but certainly doesnt look like maldonado didnt hit him on purpose there

        1. Your double negative is correct, it certainly does not look like Maldonado did not hit him on purpose, it looks exactly like Maldonado did hit him on purpose.

      1. what is the point of a reprimand? isnt it hamiltons 3rd reprimand this year? how many reprimands are you allowed?

    54. The fact that Hamilton received a reprimand shows he’s clearly just as much to blame as Pastor. Pastor received the harsher penalty for causing the damage i suspect as his actions were harsher than Hamilton’s. But both are officially to blame.

      1. Desperate for some justification are we?

    55. It doesn’t surprise me that Lewis got a reprimand, I don’t think it would be a surprise to him either!

    56. I am amazed at some of the comments on here. It’s clear that those that dislike Lewis will say anything against him, no matter what. I can’t wait to see how the Stewards deal with this situation. If going by past results, I expect nothing to come of this. On the other hand, had the shoe been on the other foot, Lewis would’ve been drawn, quartered and executed already.

    57. Totally agree Snnr!!

    58. Maldonado just got a five place penalty while Hamilton got reprimanded.

      As good as justice gets!

    59. To all those who say Lewis jinked right twice to intimidate Maldonado, here is a quote from Lewis; which would seem obvious from anyone who saw the incident –
      “I went a little bit right and I saw he’d moved out so I went back and then he was in a blind spot. I thought he was coming past and then he ended up coming into me.”

    60. either of, or both should be repremanded but they should not remove the passion and needle within F1. we should not forget the drivers are just people too and some days things get on your nerves and tempers fray. If it had turned into an accident and someone was hurt then a ban would be acceptable but it didnt, right or wrong a driver reacted to another drivers tactic to show his frustration on camera, good TV or should we go back to the schumacher procession races of the past, or for the new drivers to shake up the status quo

    61. Hamilton squeezed Maldonado causing Mal to slow down a lot. This would have annoyed him and such is the nature of racing drivers they never want to be shown up on track due to their huge egos. Maldonado probably intended to squeeze Hamilton back with the intention of making Hamilton yield slightly at best. Understanding the egotistical nature of a racing driver you should also understand that Hamilton in this instance knew what was about to happen and tried initially to put Maldonado off before he pulled out from behind him (as is evident when Hamilton twitched to the right the first time as this was the only way Maldonado could overtake) once Maldonado was alongside and overtaking Hamilton there would have been no contact (drivers would never aim to make contact there as damaging the car is the biggest embarrassment for a racing driver) Hamilton decided to try and squeeze Maldonado back as can clearly be seen by hamiltons very sharp twitch toward maldonado whom he knew was beside him. On boards show Hamilton look in his mirrors and twitch to the right twice. They should both have kept it in their trousers and carried on like nothing happened but both wanted to prove who was the bigger and better man by squeezing eachother on track.
      What people need to understand about Hamilton is although he may seem mature now he is still that arrogant and immature young man he was a couple of seasons ago only now he understands the importance of playing the political game in formula 1 by making sure the media are on your side. He still thinks and instinctively acts the same way but is learning to mask his behaviour through what I can only assume is vast amounts of pr work.

    62. Looking at the video from the front of the car it seems like it was Hamilton who moved right then Pastor did,but don’t know why Pastor was carrying so much speed for.I see nothing wrong in Hamilton passing him in the Bus Stop chicane as Williams was slow & he need to get a good lap in order to survive that was wheel banging but fair in racing.

    63. Keith, I found onboard footage from Hamilton’s car of the incident

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hHG3rPl5UM

      That link will probably get taken down by FOM soon though. I have to say Maldonado’s actions definitely seem dangerous here.

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