Pastor Maldonado

[stefan_]

And coincidentally mine. I don't have/watch Sky.

[andartop]

I do understand how drivers may get pissed off and give in to the temptation to act like this, they're only humans after all, so I wouldn't start calling Maldonado names or support the view he has no place in F1. But it still should not be tolerated. I mean, what if it was this contact that caused Perez's accident later on? What if Perez ended up seriously injured -or worse- as a result?

The FIA really need to get their act together, and set up a robust system for penalties, then stick to it. Second time offenders for something like this should not get away with it so lightly. If I was Peter Sauber I would accuse the stewards for bringing the sport into disrepute by only handing Pastor a 10-place grid penalty. How was this any less dangerous than crashgate I cannot see.

[waynes]

Go count how many times contact is made between Arnoux and Villeneuve. What was Prost's penalty for booting Senna? Senna's for booting Prost? Schumacher's for booting Hill?

Why is there a TEN PLACE penalty for tapping someone's front wheel at forty miles per hour? Monaco or not, safety paranoia or not, there's no reason to jack with things on track. Fine them, suspend them, but let's cut this grid penalty garbage out entirely.

ok so if it was 40 mph, i'll go out and bang wheels with someone right now, in my own car.

lets see what happens shall we?

He impeded another driver. 10 place penalty. no questions asked, they've seen the telemetry, he's done in on purpose. in my opinion he shouldnt even be racing

ps: your references to previous era's are just that, previous era's. no one gave a --- about penalties villeneuve / arnoux era, senna / prost era or during schumachers years

simple as that

[sAx]

I do understand how drivers may get pissed off and give in to the temptation to act like this...

Touching on the references to Schumacher in this thread, the BBC re-run of his Free Practice antics against Hamilton, diverting off onto old track in order to dangerously impede, is also unacceptable.

[myurr]

Touching on the references to Schumacher in this thread, the BBC re-run of his Free Practice antics against Hamilton, diverting off onto old track in order to dangerously impede, is also unacceptable.

Unfortunately I haven't seen that incident, however if it is how you describe then I agree it is unacceptable. As with racing in the pit lane where the FIA can't seem to make up their mind what is an unsafe release and what isn't, the FIA are in real danger of legitimising road rage with their softly softly approach and non-punishments.

[sAx]

Touching on the references to Schumacher in this thread, the BBC re-run of his Free Practice antics against Hamilton, diverting off onto old track in order to dangerously impede, is also unacceptable.

Unfortunately I haven't seen that incident, however if it is how you describe then I agree it is unacceptable. As with racing in the pit lane where the FIA can't seem to make up their mind what is an unsafe release and what isn't, the FIA are in real danger of legitimising road rage with their softly softly approach and non-punishments.

If you can access Iplayer, watch first part of Monaco qualifying pre-Q1 and you will see it covered in the early part of the show with @mrjakehumphrey and @therealdcf1.

[myurr]

Okay thanks, have watched it now. For anyone else interested it starts at 14.44.

Completely agree that this is another case of a driver showing no respect for his competitors. Lewis didn't do anything wrong and yet Schumacher takes it into his own hands to cut across the front of him just so he can wave his hands around.

And through inaction the FIA are saying that this is okay.

[Cam]

And through inaction the FIA are saying that this is okay.

Maybe it's because they want a better show? Everyone loves watching conflict (see: Jerry Springer).

[Nando]

It just crossed my mid. Didn't the front left wheel made Perez lose direction and kiss the wall in quali, the same wheel Maldonado touched?

That was Brundle's hypothesis.

Looked pretty straight forward to me. You could see the two front wheels not in line with each other.

Can´t understand Davidson missed that, it´s crystal clear on the slow mo shots.
And yes, most likely Maldo damaged something but not fully.

[tonmeister]

Have to see the footage but it seems that Maldonado crashed into De la Rosa....anyhow.

[thearmofbarlow]

Go count how many times contact is made between Arnoux and Villeneuve. What was Prost's penalty for booting Senna? Senna's for booting Prost? Schumacher's for booting Hill?

Why is there a TEN PLACE penalty for tapping someone's front wheel at forty miles per hour? Monaco or not, safety paranoia or not, there's no reason to jack with things on track. Fine them, suspend them, but let's cut this grid penalty garbage out entirely.

ok so if it was 40 mph, i'll go out and bang wheels with someone right now, in my own car.

lets see what happens shall we?

He impeded another driver. 10 place penalty. no questions asked, they've seen the telemetry, he's done in on purpose. in my opinion he shouldnt even be racing

ps: your references to previous era's are just that, previous era's. no one gave a --- about penalties villeneuve / arnoux era, senna / prost era or during schumachers years

simple as that

Yeah, you have fun with that. Be sure to post your mugshot.

Maybe it's just the part of me that watched NASCAR growing up but to me all this arm-waving over someone getting bumped is a bit of a joke. It's like the divide between American football and football. In one someone grabs you and you keep running. In another someone grabs you and you go flailing to the ground screaming and writhing in pain like you just stepped on a damn landmine, then get back up like nothing ever happened as soon as a card comes out. Crap like this is why drivers are terrified to overtake except under DRS when they know it's pretty much a given. They don't want to be on the receiving end of a BS "impeding" or "causing an accident" penalty that will screw up their next race. It's all part and parcel of the paranoia that leads to nobody taking a chance on anything.

Maybe I'm just weird, but I find Karthikeyan's presence on the grid far more worthy of ire than anything Maldonado has done.

[myurr]

But this wasn't an overtake, it was a deliberate crash because Maldonado thought Perez had done something wrong on track. That isn't racing, it's pure thuggery and has no place in any motorsport let alone the pinacle of open wheel racing.

[raymondu999]

his actions in a vehicle capable of 200 plus mph are a joke

he is a fantastic racing driver, however i hope Sir Frank has dragged him down and reminded him that although he is an F1 winner, his actions are the actions of a man in need of anger management. if he'd took Perez's wheel off he wouldnt be starting today. his petulance is very childish, and the sort of stuff you see in karting

grow the hell up and act like you are driving for one of the finest teams in Formula One

Go count how many times contact is made between Arnoux and Villeneuve. What was Prost's penalty for booting Senna? Senna's for booting Prost? Schumacher's for booting Hill?

Why is there a TEN PLACE penalty for tapping someone's front wheel at forty miles per hour? Monaco or not, safety paranoia or not, there's no reason to jack with things on track. Fine them, suspend them, but let's cut this grid penalty garbage out entirely.

Just because other, bigger names did it, doesn't make it right. And just because it was right then (if it even was) it doesn't make it right now. Times change.

[stefan_]

Good one from Cirebox:

[ds.raikkonen]

Well, it was hero (in Spain) to zero (in Monaco) for Maldonado last weekend. First he bumped with Perez, who is nt exactly Mr. 'clean driving' and then crashed out of the race as well! Life can't get more harsh than that.