Maldonado takes penalty point for Ericsson collision

2014 Spanish Grand Prix

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Pastor Maldonado has been handed a penalty point for causing a collision during the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Lotus driver tangled with Marcus Ericsson on the first lap, for which he had to serve a five-second stop-go penalty.

Maldonado was also given his fourth penalty point of the season. He now has more penalty points than any driver bar Jules Bianchi, who is also on four.

If any driver accumulates 12 points within a 12-month period they will automatically receive a one-race ban.

Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen and Adrian Sutil are the only other drivers to have received penalty points, with two each.

2014 Spanish Grand Prix

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Image © Lotus/LAT

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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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43 comments on “Maldonado takes penalty point for Ericsson collision”

  1. Although he made another stupid mistake I don’t think this is needed. He got his 5 sec stop/go. It’s getting a bit more like overkill to me. (Although in MAL his case, there is no such thing as overkill)

    1. @xtwl
      The penalty points are always handed in addition to another penalty. That is the whole point of them.

      1. Maldonado leads the penalty-points championship! Also, Bianchi for smoking…

    2. @xtwl It is for 2 different incident. Wouldn’t be right to be allowed free crash after the first one …
      Not much coverage, so difficult to have a clear opinion on this penalty though. But 2 crashes in one race should be enough for that kin of penalty (if Mal is gulty in both cases of course)

      1. My excuse, you are right. (@mads)

    3. According to the BBC-commentators, that type of 5seconds-stop/go penalty had to be taken during a regular pit-stop. In my opinion that’s hardly a penalty, so I can’t blame the FIA for given him an additional penalty point.

  2. Yey, double points finish for Lotus!

    1. LMAO.

      Technically Maldonado got Lotus’ first points… what a real talent that Venezuelan is!

      I think its entirely possible that Maldonado finishes this championship in dead last place.. with a negative points total.. lol

    2. Really burst into laughter right here… Good one!

      1. Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
        11th May 2014, 15:45

        @osvaldas31

        Just brilliant :-)

    3. Maldonado proving to be a regular points scorer after all. Who’d have thought? ;)

    4. Definitely COTD!

  3. is there a list of the current penalty points per driver? Couldn’t find anything on the web.

    1. The web is not interested, heh.

    2. Neil (@neilosjames)
      11th May 2014, 15:38

      https://www.racefans.net/statistics/2014-f1-statistics/retirements-penalties/

      Pre-China figures at the bottom, updated after each race.

  4. Grosjean had a weekend that any driver would be proud of.

    Maldonado however blamed the wall for being too close in qualifying and then hit a Caterham.

    Marginally contrasting…

    1. And yet he won the 2012 Spanish GP!

      1. Shows how much of a tyre lottery early 2012 F1 was.
        Also, if he’s in front, there aren’t many other cars he can hit.

        1. @dennis Blue flags have never been more efficient that day in history.

        2. 2012 wasn’t a tyre lottery

          1. In Catalunya it was.

  5. This man is never going to learn. He should be better out from F1 sooner than later

    1. Some big guy from the Demolition Derby should reel him in.

    2. I am tired of seeing him doing these stupid moves. Every race it’s something with him.
      And it’s been this way since the junior categories. I remember him almost killing a marshall in zolder in a fr3.5 race.
      If it wasn’t for his money he would have been out of f1 by now.

  6. I’m really starting to dislike penalty points, or more general FIA-imposed penalties. In days past, if a driver would ignore blue flags, the driver behind him would walk up to him after the race, shout some naughty words at him and that driver will make sure he never gets in his way again. And the same with Maldonado, the drivers should all stand together and say to him that they don’t respect the way he races.

    In my opinion, the FIA should make sure things like Maldonado Spa 2011, Schumacher Monaco 2006 or jump starts don’t happen, but for the rest they should leave it to the drivers to sort it out. They are the ones racing, and if they don’t like how the others race they should make sure they don’t race like that anymore.

    1. That’s the silliest thing I’ve read in a long time.

      So now drivers have to literally fight eachother for the rules to ve followed? Ridiculous, to say the least.

      This is motorsport, not a kindergarten yard. Seriously…

      1. The rules are so unbelievably tight that every tiny mistake (sometimes not even the driver’s fault) is rewarded with a drive-through penalty, a grid drop and/or penalty points. In my opinion penalties are not the way to ‘correct’ the drivers’ behaviour.

        1. Nothing is perfect. Penalties may be too harsh, but they’re still infinitely more effective (and less stupid) than letting drivers sort it out all by themselves.

          Besides, it’s quite arguable how harsh they actually are, it’s not like we get tons of drivers punishes each race. Other than Maldonado and Bianchi, things are looking good enough.

        2. I agree with that @andae23. It certainly does not look like Maldonado is learning much from getting these penalties

      2. And Gilles Villeneuve?

  7. 1 point for a collision, 2 for impeding. Nice one FIA!

    I wish they would stop referring to the pit stop penalties as stop/go, as that is confusing with the original sort of stop/go penalty. It ought to be referred to as a time penalty, which is what it realistically is, even if the time is applied during the race itself.

    1. @strontium
      I agree! Calling it a stop and go is silly and incredibly confusing.

  8. This story is clearly incomplete as it does not include the “it wasn’t my fault” quote from Maldonado. Half a job F1 Fanatic

    1. Yeah . where is the quote , there must be one somewhere ;-)

  9. I think the FIA’s penalty points are not the issue here. I think the issue is that Maldanado has proven himself to be a very irresponsible driver who never takes accountability for his mistakes and the dangers he puts others in.
    How many collisions and outright crashes has he been involved in this year? In 5 races, I’m thinking it’s either 6 or 7, including practices. And nearly all of them were through lack of focus or judgement. It’s not fair to the other drivers to know that SOMEONE will likely have their race ruined by Maldanado each week.

    Forget the points because they are not applied for his stupid mistakes in practice where he got lucky and only hurt himself and not others. Is he truly going to have to injure or kill another driver before the FIA acts? Grosjean was suspended, for a race, for much less. Maldanado’s “body of work” is far beyond any driver on the grid and the FIA need to take decisive action.

    1. I should have also added: I think the money he brings from Venezuelan oil is part of the reason he has not been punished. I certainly hope not, but judging by the difference in the way they treat him, vs Grosjean in the past is not equitable and I can’t see another reason for it.

    2. to be fair, Grosjean was banned because he almost killed Alonso

  10. Don’t understand really why he was to blame this time, from the footage I have seen he looked to be infront of Ericson and on the inside of the corner?

  11. Praying he gets 12 ASAP. The guy is a joke.

  12. Pastor Maldonado is the classic example of why so many race fans hate pay drivers. When Pastor left Williams at the end of last season one had the feeling that both parties were as relieved as the other that they were parting ways. One could argue that Maldonado had achieved something at Williams, with his sole grands prix victory in 2012, and the teams only win since 2004.
    Moving to Lotus seemed the right move for Maldonado on paper atleast. They were fast in 2013, something you could not say about the Williams. Its just that Pastor, for me, gives off the impression that he believes he is possibly better than he actually is at driving an F1 car.
    This season has seen so many mistakes from Pastor that it is becoming embarrassing. His excuses are, bizarre to say the least. To claim that ‘the wall is too close’ following his Barcelona shunt is stating the obvious, but it was in all sense a pathetic attempt at shifting the blame away from himself. With Maldonado, it is always someone else’s mistake, never him.
    It is obvious that Lotus have not got the car they, nor Pastor, had hoped for in 2014. It is quite possible that he is overdriving, trying to make the car perform things it is simply not capable of, but these enforced
    errors are all his. The bottom line, is that he is the one behind the wheel.

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