F1 Fanatic

After an astonishing three penalties in one race weekend at Spa, Pastor Maldonado is well on his way to take Lewis Hamilton’s record for most driver penalties in one season.

With 7 driver penalties, not including penalties due to mechanical misfortune, Lewis Hamilton already broke his own 2008-record of 5 driver penalties last year. In 2011, already Pastor Maldonado was a close contender for the record, but with now his 6th driver penalty in twelve races, and eight races left to go, the Columbian is well on his way to take his place in the record lists, albeit surely not how he had imagined how he would be remembered.

Lewis Hamilton’s record number of driving penalties in 2011

Hamilton’s first penalty of the season was a 20-second post race penalty at the Malaysian Grand Prix, for weaving when he was being overtaken by Alonso.
At the Monaco Grand Prix, his only qualifying time in Q3 was deleted for cutting the chicane, demoting him from 7th to 9th on the grid.
At the Monaco Grand Prix, he was given a drive-through penalty for ‘causing an avoidable incident’ after colliding with Felipe Massa.
At the Monaco Grand Prix, he was given a 20-second post race penalty for ‘causing an avoidable incident’ after colliding with Pastor Maldonado.
At the Hungarian Grand Prix, he was given a drive-through penalty for ‘forcing another driver off the track’ after spinning his car in front of Paul di Resta.
At the Singapore Grand Prix, he was given a drive-through penalty for ‘causing an avoidable incident’ after colliding’ with Felipe Massa.
At the Indian Grand Prix, he was given a 3-place grid penalty for ‘ignoring yellow flags’ during the first free practice.

Pastor Maldonado’s driving penalties in 2012

At the Monaco Grand Prix, he received a 10-place grid penalty for ‘causing an avoidable incident’ with Sergio Pérez in Free Practice 3.
At the European Grand Prix, he received a 20-second penalty for ‘causing an avoidable incident’ with Lewis Hamilton in the final laps of the race.
At the British Grand Prix, he received a €10,000 fine and a reprimand for ‘causing an avoidable incident’ with Sergio Pérez in the race.
At the Belgian Grand Prix, he received a 3-place grid penalty for impeding Nico Hülkenberg during the Q1 qualifying sessions.
At the Belgian Grand Prix, he received a 5-place grid penalty for the Italian Grand Prix for his jump start.
At the Belgian Grand Prix, he received a 5-place grid penalty for the Italian Grand Prix for ‘causing an avoidable incident’ with Timo Glock.

Isn’t it funny just how easy people overlook the fact that Hamilton used to hold that record? I never heard such Hamilton bashing when he was destroying nearly every car on track….

But the intention and the intensity has not been the same … Most of the time Maldona is clearly the cause. Last year with Massa, it was often a difficult call. And Maldonado is not helping by crashing at off track run
Now if we just count them, they are pretty much the same …

The Columbian?

Is having a time deleted in qualifying really a penalty in the same sense as the others?