I was reading Pastor Maldonado’s comments at AUTOSPORT this morning and it struck me that this is a man who is justifying the altercations he’s had during the season. There is no rule against doing so and it is, after all, human nature. I was intrigued by his comments:
“I have the team’s support because they have the data and when we went to the stewards it is very clear that I lost the car,” Maldonado said.
“I think I have been unlucky. I accept the penalty from [the clash with] Lewis, although I was a little bit unlucky because I had the kerb and no grip at the front.
“There, it was one and a half laps to the end and I was fighting but here the race was just starting.
“Today we were both racing and both had DRS open. I went to the inside of the track so the position was mine and he braked late, and I was on cold tyres and had no angle to turn and I lost the car and it is clear.”
Maldonado goes on to use Kimi Raikkonen as an example of his benevolent driving style:
“In the previous races at the start of the year I was very clean and I had no problem, and I was fighting more because I was in the middle of the grid,” he said.
“Today I was even gentle with Kimi [Raikkonen], giving him the position and I was driving carefully because the race is long and degradation is big and our car is good with degradation.”
I understand his point, don’t get me wrong. Each circumstance is a little different to be sure but the recurring theme here is that he had no grip as he was on the curb and lost the car or braked late or had DRS open and lost the car. If you look at the pass with Kimi, he may suggest he was gentle but it was an aggressive gentle for lack of a better term.
Maldonado seems to be an excitable character given the fact that he’s driving well (as far as pace goes) and Williams F1 have given him a car to be in the top 10. My knee-jerk reaction as a fan is that he’s drving as if he’ll never get a chance to run in 5th again and that it is a fluke that the Williams car is even in the top 10 so he has to make it happen.
That isn’t really the case this year. Williams have fielded a damn good car and Pastor would do well to expect to run in the top 10 and not drive like he was in an HRT and somehow lucked into running in 4th and he either finishers there or crashes. These dashing drives or dives isn’t what Williams needs now.
What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.
