Maldonado handed ten-place grid penalty for Perez collision

2012 Monaco Grand Prix

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Pastor Maldonado will be moved back ten places on the grid for the Monaco Grand Prix.

The Williams driver collided with Sergio Perez towards the end of the final hour of practice on Saturday morning.

Maldonado, who scored his first F1 victory in the previous race in Spain, appeared to deliberately make contact with the Sauber driver.

Maldonado was involved in a similar incident with Lewis Hamilton during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix last year, for which he received a five-place penalty.

2012 Monaco 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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76 comments on “Maldonado handed ten-place grid penalty for Perez collision”

  1. He is lucky its only a 10 place grid penalty considering its the second time he has done this.

    1. agreed, next time he does this and by the looks of it he probally will he needs to get a race ban, using your car as a weapon to attack drivers with that he seems to feel have done him some wrong is by far one of the worst things an F1 driver can do.

  2. Fully agree: his move was unacceptable and unprofessional.

  3. As written in the live blog, at least its more than he got for much the same in the spa incident last year, but is it enough to take into account the fact its a bit of a repeat offence?
    I really feel that these kind of things should be taken more seriously (Schu only a reprimand last week for retaliation), and I am not sure Mansell would not have given Hamilton a more severe one.

    1. Schumacher, retaliation? Last week? on who or wot?

      1. I think the Hamilton incident during practice, when Hamilton was just driving as you would, and then Schumacher thought he held him up, so he drove off the track at the final corners down the old circuit and then pulled in front of Hamilton.

  4. Kick him out. This is totally unexceptable. And to be honest, a 10 place pen just pathetic.

  5. I know the stewards have been in the habit of releasing statements explaining precisely why they hand out certain punishments. They did it with the Button-Hamilton incident at Canada last year. Does anybody know if one has been released for this incident? I’m very cuirous to know as to whether they have termed it an “avoidable incident” or a “deliberate incident”.

  6. I don’t understand this. I think it deserves a harsher penalty, but I thought it would be treated the same as the Spa incident and get a 5-place penalty again. So if the FIA aren’t being consistent, why not punish it accordingly? Or is this appropriate punishment for the offence? I can’t see how it’s less of an offence than cheating or making errors like McLaren in Spain.

    1. I haven’t seen the incident, but if it’s the same as Spa then I agree, although to be fair 10 place at Monaco is harsher than 10 place on a normal circuit.

      1. Repeat offenders always get harsher sentences, don’t they?

    2. People can debate about the tires all they like, but for me, nothing mars the face of F1 these days (not even DRS) more than the complete inconsistency of the penalties the FIA hands out. It’s just ridiculous and nonsensical.

    3. We only have one camera angle to judge by. The stewards have dozens. And until such time as they release a statement explaining why they penalised Maldonado the way they did, all we can do is speculate.

    4. I agree with you that its to lenient, but at least they are being consistent. Given that its now a repeat offence, it deserves a more severe penalty than last time he did something like that @damonsmedley

    5. @damonsmedley That’s what I was thinking too. Lewis was sent at the back of the grid for a repeating offense, or better for infringing a rule which was imposed because of their own controversial behavior. Now Maldonado repeats the same offense and gets 10 place grid penalty. Something wrong here.

    6. andrew_s (@)
      26th May 2012, 21:21

      well, at least he didn’t run out of fuel whilst he was qualifying.

  7. That is not harsh enough, considering this is his second offence he should be punished much more harshly. I say either 24 place grid penatly or disqualification

  8. Deliberate move, yes. Deliberate intention to make contact, I’m not so sure. I’d had to see it much more. Initially I’m thinking it’s a case of over-confidence. However, the penalty seems appropriate, it’s not like he will have much of an opportunity to improve on where he starts on the grid.

    1. Completely agree. I don’t understand all these people calling for his disqualification and some saying he should be kicked out of the sport entirely. While he had no reason to move over that soon, I seriously doubt he’d intended to actually hit Perez, just scare him. If you watch the replay Perez moved over and actually straightened the car out, maybe Maldonado wasn’t expecting it and just moved over in an attempt to scare him a bit. Only a total moron would deliberately crash his car into someone else in practice 3, possibly damaging the car before quali.

      10 place I think is fair for causing an avoidable incident

      1. @skett Just to “scare him”? Are we in a sandbox or sth? Here people’s lives/health are at stake, god d**it.
        He may be fast. He showed it. But he’s no man.

        1. So you’re being pedantic about my choice of words and yet I’m the childish one?

      2. Kicked out of the sport for this? No. Kicked out of racing entirely when he failed to slow down under yellow and almost killed a marshall? Yes. He shouldn’t even be where he is now, and if he had less money he wouldn’t be.

  9. That does seem awfully lenient, I know its not really comparable but an effective 24 place drop for running out of petrol, vs a 10 place drop for deliberately causing an accident, and (even though the speeds were comparatively low) endangering yourself and others just seems like an odd decision to me. You would have thought that a zero tolerance and heavy penalty approach should be adopted. He must have been deemed guilty of something as he has got a penalty, surely deliberately causing an accident because you are frustrated (for the second time in as many seasons) is about as bad as driving misdemeanour’s get, so why has he got away with what seems to be the standard one size fits all penalty?

  10. Given the penalty for a slight fuel infringement is to be sent to the back of the grid, how can deliberately ramming another driver (a second offence no less) be a ten place penalty?

    1. Exactly. clearly highlights the unfair hamilton treatment.

      1. I think it more highlights how totally stupid the rules and penalties in F1 are rather than unfair against Hamilton.

      2. Its not though, one is unsportsmanlike behavious, possibly dangerous (don’t get me wrong I’m not claiming he didn’t do anything wrong). The other is CHEATING.

        Mclaren knew from the outset that if he was underfueled he would be disqualified from the session, those are the rules.

    2. I can only agree, it doesn’t make sense with such a lite penalty. Whats worse, deliberatly hitting another car and risking lives or your garage makes a stupid mistake? If Lewis gets put in the back of the field then Pastor should sit this one out. IMHO.

  11. wonder what would have been done if it was lewis???

    1. Well, he would have been disqualified from the race. Zero consistency from the stewards.

  12. Just pathetic they should have sent him home, that kind of thing is unexceptable.

  13. 2nd offence and only a 10 grid penalty? If it was Lewis he would have been banned from the sport for 10 years :))

    1. the first offence wasnt so clear cut, hamilton was at equal fault there, – people made there mind up on that one going by with camera reply you looked at, as some replies looked like hamilton was the villain.

      1. Nonsense. Hamilton was not at equal fault, hence why he didnt get punished, he was following the circuit as it bends downhill. this is obvious from his onboard footage, it only appears like hes moving right, on a straight, from the camera further down the hill. You can clearly see maldonados trajectory as he swipes hamilton, almost hitting the barrier on the left of the track..

  14. I believe that sort of behaviour should be a ‘red card’ offence and he should be banned from the weekend and perhaps another race too. He needs to cut this behavior out especially as he has previous.

    1. ^^^^this and a few race ban its like lashing out in football joey barton comes to mind

  15. Paul Crich (@)
    26th May 2012, 12:44

    Only 10 places!!!! for something so obviously intentional and dangerous.

    If Hamilton was punished with a 24 place penalty for simply running out of fuel which is not in the least bit dangerous!!! The penalty for this should at least be the same and a heafty fine to boot. Come on stewards the allocation of penalties is a complete farce, time to sort this out for the sake of the sport.

    1. It would probably do good to point out that Hamilton did not get a 24 place penalty – he got a disqualification from the session, which was exactly what was written in the rules that would happen in case of such a violation. Had he provisionally “qualified” 23rd instead of 1st, he would have only effectively gotten a 1 place penalty, and had he provisionally qualified last, he would not have been effectively punished at all, besides the removal of his time from the records.
      On the other hand and in the case of Maldonado, the rules obviously state that a penalty is given out at the discretion of the stewards, and unlike in the case of Hamilton, the stewards can actually come to a decision about the penalty as well, rather than just decide whether or not a rule has been broken and a penalty comes automatically.
      Not that I’d like to look for excuses for Maldonado, but I find it a bit stupid to compare this to Hamiltons penalty and its harshness.

  16. chris phillips (@)
    26th May 2012, 13:11

    the officials really need to get a grip on this. a deliberate dangerous act should receive a severe reprimand such as disqualification. sent to the back should be the minimum, 10 place drop is a joke and highlights the harsh treatment they dish out to hamilton for drastically less severe infringements.

  17. looks like hes wreked checo’s race too that was underlying damage that caused that in my opinion

      1. Hardly. The team would not have sent it out on track if they were not happy with it, and why would it break in sector 3 when the kink in the tunnel is the fastest part of the track?

        1. Who says the team knew anything about it? Are damaged components on the cars always immediately apparent? The answer to that question can only be an emphatic NO! Plus, maximum speed alone could never be the only determining factor as to why a suspension or steering component that suffered previously undiscovered damage might fail later on. In my opinion, hard braking from high speed (lots of weight transfer going on there) or being aggressive on the kerbs while the suspension is loaded up from turning in under hard braking (both of which happen immediately after exiting the tunnel, mind you… not to mention the fact that both of these things also happen more than a few times over the course of a full lap of Monaco) would do way more to hasten the demise of a damaged bit of front suspension than going through the tunnel. Again, just my opinion.

          1. i dont belive it was suspension i think the steering rack was damaged he was on full lock and went straight on

  18. I don’t understand why everyone is calling for draconian punishment for someone who is driving with his heart. We need more drivers like Maldonado in F1.

    1. As long as they’re not potentially putting others at serious risk.

    2. Matt (@superf1fan)
      26th May 2012, 14:01

      Drivers willing to put themselves and the other drivers in serious danger due to their own petty actions? Of course we do!

      1. not to mencion the close proximity and lack of protection for marshals and cameramen/photographers

        1. I fail to see how that has anything to do with it. Yes, Maldonado is at fault, but your arguments are completely irrelevant in that perspective. It is up to the track management to guarantee the safety of staff and spectators, and the drivers can not and are not expected to adjust their driving style by considering the proximity of marshals and/or cameramen who are off track. If a crash on the track – deliberate or not – can threaten someone off track then those someones should not be in that position in the first place.

    3. Who are you, Maldonado’s mother?

      1. HAHAHAHAHAHH!

    4. Driving your heart out has nothing to do with deliberately crushing your car into another.

    5. Driving your heart out is one thing (and personally, I think F1 has many drivers who do that every weekend… Alonso, Hamilton, Kobayashi, Schumi, Kimi, Webber… they all qualify, IMHO. The results aren’t always podiums or points even, but you rarely ever feel like they’ve got out of the car leaving much on the table) but it is a completely different & unacceptable thing to be intentionally causing contact with other drivers even when you feel you’ve got a valid reason to be p’d off. This is the 2nd time Maldonado has done this. It was inexcusable the first time, and I think an example needs to be made of the repeat offender. There should be no question in any of the drivers minds that doing things like that is unacceptable. We can’t blame him for the stewarding inconsistencies though: that blame falls to the FIA, who can’t seem to stick to any serious course of punishment regarding infractions… no consistency with the rulings whatsoever. That’s what I think has a lot of fans everywhere fed up with F1 more than anything else, & is the main reason there are so many conspiracy theories floating around regarding unfair stewarding.

  19. I agree a 10 place grid drop is lenient considering it’s a second offence. But at least, as one might expect, he’s been given a more harsh penalty than he got at Spa last year.

    Maldonado needs to learn how to control himself when things doesn’t go his way. I’m with DC on this one, you simply can’t use your car as a weapon like that when you get ****** off. Totally unacceptable.

    The thing is it’s probably not the last time he’s going to do it either. Clearly it’s not like he gives a crap…

  20. Did anyone watch the post qualifying interview on sky with Maldonado?

    He tried blaming it on cold tyres and oversteer, I wonder if he lied through his teeth when he rammed Hamilton?

    1. He said “It was not on purpose, an accident maybe” Yes Pastor, or maybe it was your temper getting the better of you and smashing into another car which overtook you on a flying lap… what a prat.

  21. So how many people here believe what Maldonado told the Sky guys

    “I was just asking a bit too much from the car on cold tyres and hit Perez”

    ?

    Not sure that fits with the footage, altough with only the one angle we have seen, its hard to definitely say that is just nonsense.

    1. bbc had a onbord with perez but cant find it on intraweb it will be on i player mind you

  22. Ridiculously imbalanced penalty compared to Hamilton’s last week. I don’t understand how the stewards can’t see this is a severe infringement. Top motorsport drivers shouldn’t be allowed to just go purposely driving into other cars without any real penalty.

  23. But what makes people think that it was a deliberate collision? Had Perez previously done something rude to Maldonado?

    1. I have to agree with you here. While I do believe that he deserves the penalty because it was clearly dangerous, I don’t see any evidence for it being intentional. While in Spa last year he seemed to be angry about Hammy cutting him off, Maldonado stood to gain nothing from this contact with Perez. Maldo was the one on a hot lap, so why would he WANT to INTENTIONALLY hit Perez?

      Obviously though, it WAS dangerous driving that was his fault, so he deserves the penalty. But I think its interesting how many people are quick to claim that Maldonado intentionally hit Perez.

        1. That is completly besides the point.

          So what if Perez got in his way? Does that warrant you smashing your car into his? no.

          Its not really something to goto the stewards about because its only Free practice, so what does he do? dish out his own punishment, while hes seeing red. Yep, thats what we need, role models like him.

  24. Was playing Monaco quali on F1 2011 after the real quali and smashed into a Torro Rosso at full speed going up the hill…. 10 place penalty for causing collision. I wonder if 10 place is standard punishment for causing a collision in F1?

  25. LOLz, just re-watched the vid, and who was right behind them? Yeah right! Mr. Hamilton, he was watching the whole thing unfold.

    I hope reporters will not come to the idea of asking him what he thought about the incident….. he may bust-out again like the Ali G. commentary :-)

  26. This looked even worse than the incident @ Spa with Lewis, imo. But I can’t see a reason why he’d deliberately do that, either, because I highly doubt Sergio peed in his popcorn the last time they were at the movies or something. So, that was pretty careless, but despite the incriminating camera angle, it’s really in the gray areas.

  27. It would be great to see a view from it from Maldonardo’s onboard, but it looks like he turns in very very early, and when he knows that there is a car on his inside and its only P3, then why on earth would he turn in that early?
    A 10-grid penalty is a bargin, especially considering what he did to Lewis in Spa last year where he pretty much drove right into Lewis in similar fashion.
    I think, considering his repeated offence that it would only be fair to tell him to go home and stay there for the rest of the weekend.
    F1 drivers who deliberately attack others on track like that does not belong in the sport and I think FIA should write that on the wall with Maldonardo’s blood. Not litterally of cause : D

  28. He has previous, he was involved in an incident in the Renault World Series in 2005, he ignored yellow flags before striking and severely injuring a marshal and was at the time banned from Monaco for LIFE. Not sure what happened to allow him to race again but it shows the man is a hot head and a hot head in F1 is extremely dangerous.

    1. He ended up with as four-race ban in the championship he was racing in. I saw one of the British tabloids (the Mail, I think) ran this story recently and said he had a life ban, without bothering to check that it was changed later.

      1. Because his very rich dad allegedly made it go away but agreeing to look after the Marshall so the story goes. However you look at it he is a danger and a liability on a race track in my opinion. Anyone who saw him race in Formula Renault, GP2 and his attempts to drive into other drivers in F1 would be hard pressed to disagree with that.

    2. any vid ov that i wana see it he seems like he gets a litlle hot under the coller at times

  29. Well divine justice, now Mal starting behind Perez after extra 5 place drop for gearbox change or maybe he can get him again !

  30. talking about stewarding incosistancys why was shumi not punished for this???
    http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqx67b_spain-2012-schumacher-s-weekend_auto

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