Maldonado gets penalised, again
The race stewards have handed another penalty to Pastor Maldonado, this time for impeding a driver during qualifying. As he impeded Nico Hülkenberg after having been warned by his team, the driver is handed a 3-place grid penalty. He will therefore start the Belgian GP from 6th, instead of 3rd.
Impeding a driver during qualifying is in breach of Article 31.7 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations.
The stewards clarified the 3-place grid penalty as such: "The driver of Car 18 was warned by his team not to "hold up" Car 12 which was behind him, yet he clearly did impede Car 12 in turns 18 and 19. However as Car 12 continued into Q2 a more severe penalty was not considered appropriate."
Despite his impressive qualifying performance that got him into 3rd place, the penalty comes as another blow, but hardly a surprise as Maldonado has been handed an unequalled amount of penalties. He has previously also been openly criticized by some of him rivals, notably including Sergio Pérez after he was pushed out of the race at the British GP in Silverstone.
