Maldonado excluded from qualifying over fuel breach

2014 British Grand Prix

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Pastor Maldonado has been excluded from the results of qualifying for the British Grand Prix after his car was found to have too little fuel on board.

Maldonado stopped during Q2 when his team reported a lack of fuel pressure on his Lotus.

Under the rules Maldonado’s car should have had enough fuel on board for him to return to the pits and give a one litre sample. According to the FIA he would have needed 2.1 litres of fuel on board, but it was found to contain just 0.6 litres.

Having been excluded from the results of qualifying, Maldonado will be allowed to start the race from the back of the grid.

He will line up in 20th place, in front of the two Caterhams who failed to set a time within 107% of the fastest lap in Q1. They were given a dispensation to start the race based on their times from practice.

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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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15 comments on “Maldonado excluded from qualifying over fuel breach”

  1. Hmm, well, he could move up a lot of positions in the first corner, as many of the drivers will get out of his way to prevent him crashing into them(!)

    1. @castor Well, Liuzzi moved up to the top 10 in an HRT at the first corner at that race in Monza…..

  2. Ferrari and Williams are breathing a sigh of relief. The chance of one of their cars being KABOOMED by Maldonado (A a big chance it was too) is now gone!

  3. I’m actually starting to feel sorry for him. I wasn’t particularly fond of him 2 years ago but this year he’s had so much bad luck he hasn’t had a chance to prove himself. That number 13…

    1. He has had 3 and a half years to prove himself. Obviously the reliability has not helped this year, but he simply hasn’t been doing very well at all.

    2. Yeah its called karma

  4. There are no words to describe…

  5. Did the team sabotage his car?

  6. The Williams pair are almost in a respectable grid position now!
    Although I’m still expecting Massa to be penalised for displaying the wrong number on his helmet.

  7. Wait….

    So cheating by running to little fuel is better than being than being outside 107%?

    Surely the fact the caterhams actually put the right amount of fuel in should mean that they start ahead of Maldonado….

    1. No because the 107% rule excludes cars from the race not qualifying, if it wasn’t for the special dispensation then they would not be allowed to race all all, where as a lack of fuel only excludes u from quifying

  8. Speaking of fuel …. where do they fuel or refuel the cars?? It is never shown of TV, or is it supposed to be some team secret how much fuel they put in when and how, etc…. Thanks, rnr

    1. Mr win or lose
      6th July 2014, 12:21

      Somewhere in the pitbox with some rather ordinary equipment I believe.

  9. To me, Pastor Maldonado is lucky to be anywhere near a race circuit. Hes dangerous and has got decent pace (when theres not another driver or a wall within his reach) but, unfortunately, money talks and Lotus fell sucker for the big bucks. Until Austria, he was last in the Drivers Championship, he has to pay to race at Monaco due to the life ban for hitting a marshall in FR3.5, he flipped Gutierrez in Bahrain in a move that Pastor should never even thought about attempting and he thinks hes the innocent victim every time because hes got money on his side. I not only feel sorry for the race drivers who not only have to race and try and get as far away from him as possible but also to those drivers who have been victim to his dangerous and idiotic crashes. I tgought Ricardo Teixeira and Rodolfo Gonzalez were the limit for the pay rate drivers in F1 but in all reality, they’re just the icing on the cake.

  10. Are fuel breaches actually worth 8 Penalty Points btw?

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