Pastor Maldonado

[sAx]

...But he is spoiled brat who started out with the fastest car & never had to struggle...

That's about as tired and worn as the latest batch of Pirelli's.

[JimClarkFan]

Can't we all just agree this was a racing incident?

Hamilton forced Maldonardo of the track, Maldonardo then forced himself onto Hamilton's line...

[sAx]

Can't we all just agree this was a racing incident?

+1! Certainly can agree that, just can't agree the spoiled brat, given fastest car nonsense. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that LH has not been in the fastest car for the last 4yrs.

[JimClarkFan]

Can't we all just agree this was a racing incident?

+1! Certainly can agree that, just can't agree the spoiled brat, given fastest car nonsense. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that LH has not been in the fastest car for the last 4yrs.

I have been highly critical of Lewis in the past, particularly last year. But this year he is a changed man, he isn't moody at all, his attitude is great.

Anyone who says he has had the fastest car since entering F1, well they have bot been watching the same F1 I have been since 09.

[Guisson]

Hamilton's manoeuver was useless imo , his tires were going off and he cannot do anything about it !
So he tried to defend himself and pushed maldonado Out of track leaving him with 4 wheels of the track , since he cannot overtake while beeing off the track he was obliged to rejoin the track AND
As You can see at 0:50 Maldonado runs over the kerb and couldn't change direction , There wasn't enough space and bang the collision was unavoidable
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILhjnwW4jdE[/youtube]
I'd say it's 60-40% ,
60 % for Pastor : He could have easilly slowed down to avoid the contact ..There was still 1 whole lap to overtake Hamilton since his tyres are going down ..
40% for Hamilton : Defending your position was useless especially if you know that your tyres won't last and you will loose that position anyway.

[JimClarkFan]

..
I feel bad for Hamilton.
He surely knew as soon as he hit the wall that 4th was better than DNF, thus the punching of the steering wheel.

[Rob W]

Hamilton was a clown for pushing Maldonado off the track like that. He'd already made contact. Maldonado was also in the wrong for coming back onto the track where he did... it happens.

The unlucky part was Hamilton going over Maldonado's front wing - that put him into the wall. In normal circumstances he would have been able to continue and it would hardly have been mentioned.

[thearmofbarlow]

Here's the short and sweet version...

Hamilton made one move to defend his position. Maldonado continued his passing attempt on the outside and was pushed wide because he had --- for position. Where he is SOLELY at fault for this incident is that Hamilton is in no way responsible for making room for Maldonado to rejoin. NO. WAY. He is on the racing line, on the track, he is entitled to his space. Maldonado decided in his own now-repetitive PASTOR SMASH! way that it was a good idea to rejoin not in the position he was in before the off but instead rejoin IN THE MIDDLE OF LEWIS HAMILTON'S CAR.

I swear Hamilton haters are worse than Hamilton fanboys. Were these roles reversed it would be "Oh god! Hamilton crashing again! He's horrid! Ban him! Ban him for life! Also, give me his girlfriend."

Maldonado. 100%. End.

[Red Schneider]

None of what I'm about to say should be construed as a defense of Maldonado. I generally agree with arm of barlow. However...

This is the same principle as when you have a green light to drive through an intersection. You have the right to drive through without looking either way, sure. If you are not interested in protecting yourself from a drunk driver out to t-bone your ass, that's fine. Do you want to be right, or do you want to be alive?

It's too easy to absolve yourself of responsibility by hiding behind 'racing incident' labels, or criticism of other drivers. Some people, like Hamilton, Grosjean, and Maldonado, are not interested in protecting themselves. Hamilton was driving on worn tires against a known rabid psycho. Do you want to be right, or do you want 12 points?

...lastly, the BBC commentary of the incident was frickin' hilarious.

[Red Schneider]

I kind of like the move Maldonado made on Webber on lap 38. Hard but sane. Brutal how Webber lost 3 places in a couple corners though. I bet he was steaming mad.

[thearmofbarlow]

Hamilton was driving on worn tires against a known rabid psycho.

What's your point? That Hamilton, who was racing for points, who was well within his previously established right of way, should have for some reason just tapped the brakes and let someone that had RUN OFF THE ROAD by? If Maldonado can't keep his crap together in one corner why should Hamilton think that Maldonado could put a move on him anywhere? There is absolutely no room for questioning here. This was not a race incident. This was an impatient child, who has had a habit of using his car as a weapon (grid penalty for running into Perez, a "lifetime" ban for running over a steward), deciding once again to act like a complete TIT rather than utilize proper racecraft to vanquish an opponent who was very much in a bad way with his tires.

Your green light analogy is ridiculous. There has never been and will never be any sort of correlation between proper driving habits on the street and proper race driving.

Maybe I'm pissed so much because Maldonado has had some truly brilliant moments and if he could stop being such a little berk for two hours at a clip he'd be way up the points standings. Time will tell but right now were I Frank Williams I'd very much be contemplating whether or not Maldonado would remain in my car for much longer.

[Red Schneider]

What's your point? That Hamilton, who was racing for points, who was well within his previously established right of way, should have for some reason just tapped the brakes and let someone that had RUN OFF THE ROAD by?

Yes.

If Maldonado can't keep his crap together in one corner why should Hamilton think that Maldonado could put a move on him anywhere?

Because there are easier moves and harder moves, obviously. If Hamilton were much of a thinker, which sadly he isn't, he might have considered not fighting so hard this time because twelve points are better than nothing.

This was not a race incident.

Agree.

This was an impatient child, who has had a habit of using his car as a weapon (grid penalty for running into Perez, a "lifetime" ban for running over a steward), deciding once again to act like a complete TIT rather than utilize proper racecraft to vanquish an opponent who was very much in a bad way with his tires.

Agree.

Your green light analogy is ridiculous. There has never been and will never be any sort of correlation between proper driving habits on the street and proper race driving.

Disagree. There is an imperfect correlation. I'm not suggesting they should all be pussies, but do you have any desire to keep your car intact or not? How many incidents does Alonso have per 100 overtaking moves? 1 maybe? What about Hamilton? It could easily be five times that. Aggression and maintaining a self-preservation instinct are not mutually exclusive.

[FW17]

I don't understand the penalty.

LH gives no racing room through the comer, runs PM off the track, and it is PM''s fault. On top of that LH was driving a broken car, the only way he could keep PM behind was by running him off the road and he did that.

Mika Salo is a bastard, who could not drive for nuts and now cant judge an incident either. FIA should rethink calling loser drivers as advisory stewards, to something more consistent.

[thearmofbarlow]

I don't understand the penalty.

LH gives no racing room through the comer, runs PM off the track, and it is PM''s fault. On top of that LH was driving a broken car, the only way he could keep PM behind was by running him off the road and he did that.

Yes, it is Maldonado's fault. He had the door shut on him from corner entry leaving zero chance to overtake. Hamilton, again, made ONE move towards the outside to set up for the turn. He held the racing line while Maldonado tried in vain to come around the outside. Maldonado ran HIMSELF off the road when he chose to force such a piss-poor excuse for a pass.

Hamilton did not deviate from what would be a normal racing line through that corner. Maldonado simply was too impatient and tried to force something that was not there. The fact that your username is WilliamsF1 at the very least makes your bias known but it in no way reduces the utter silliness of your argument that Lewis Hamilton is supposed to bend over for everyone that wants to come past. Alonso has a (supposedly) lame car, is he supposed to let everyone by or is he supposed to drive his balls off to keep as many people as possible behind him? This moronic notion that he's supposed to be happy with 12 points is utterly daft. He wasn't racing for 12 point he was racing for 15 and a podium. You DO NOT give up a podium finish because some brainless twat in a blue and white car is behind you.

Not that anything like facts or sense matter. It was something involving Hamilton so that goes right out the window. He's like Linux really... fanboys and detractors alike are annoying pricks.

[stefan_]

WilliamsF1, let's keep the agressive fanboy posts out of this, please. Next time maybe you will say that, in Monaco, it is was the marshal's fault for being on the race track.

As soon as Maldonado saw that he had no room to stay on the track alongisde Hamilton and he was going off the track, he should have braked, stick to the back of the McLaren and pass him on the next oportunity, which was not far away. The same thing as Hamilton, Maldonado did with Webber, but Mark didin't lost his head and wacked Maldonado from the side.