Spanish Grand Prix winner Pastor Maldonado has a good track record around the venue of the next race: the Monte-Carlo street circuit.
But his maiden F1 race there last year ended in disappointment.
With five laps to go he was running sixth – higher than Williams finished all season long – when a controversial collision with Lewis Hamilton left Maldonado in the barriers. Hamilton was given a time penalty for causing the turn one crash.
Here’s a new angle on the crash provided by a spectator at the first corner:
After his maiden win in Spain, Maldonado heads to Monaco with high hopes of recapturing his form at the track from junior categories. “Our package is definitely getting better and although we don’t have the quickest car right now, we are improving very quickly,” he said.
“I have always liked Monaco and after Sunday I am certainly full of confidence.”
Maldonado is a three-time winner at the principality. His first triumph came in Formula Renault 3.5 in 2006.
He added GP2 victories at Monaco in 2007 and 2009 – the latter a reverse-grid sprint race:
Maldonado set pole at Monaco in 2007 and 2008 in GP2. He finished second in the latter. Who beat him? That would be his current team mate, Bruno Senna.
In his GP2 championship-winning year he finished second to Sergio Perez after this crash in qualifying kept him off the front row:
However Maldonado’s first visit to Monaco with the World Series by Renault in 2005 went very badly. During practice he crashed under yellow flags and injured a marshal. Maldonado’s licence was suspended and he missed the next nine races.
Maldonado’s calm resistance to Fernando Alonso’s pressure on his way to victory in Spain was a further sign he’s put his ‘wild man’ days behind him. Will this more mature Maldonado produce another strong result for Williams at Monaco next weekend?
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Martin Rasmussen (@floptickle)
18th May 2012, 12:04
Wow, those marshalls are fast! Good job!
aka_robyn (@)
18th May 2012, 12:10
That’s what I was thinking! They had that car off the circuit before the rest of the field even made it back around again. I mean, it obviously helped that the crash happened right next to a crane, but still — quick work!
Katz, Tim
18th May 2012, 12:35
That’s what New Jersey is going to need – cranes everywhere that there isn’t run-off.
Mark (@marlarkey)
18th May 2012, 13:29
+1
sato113 (@sato113)
18th May 2012, 17:18
is there a video of maldonado injuring a marshal?
f1alex (@f1alex)
18th May 2012, 18:03
@sato113
I couldn’t find one, but I could find this: Maldonado crashing under red flags in Zolder, in World Series by Renault.
He came very close to hurting another marshal in this video.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
18th May 2012, 19:28
Indeed @floptickle Very quick response!
GeeMac (@geemac)
19th May 2012, 18:03
They aren’t the benchmark for the world’s motorsport marshalls for nothing…
nbe
18th May 2012, 12:10
Given that it was only last year at Spa that he deliberately crashed into another car, narrowly avoiding another race license suspension… I’m not so sure on the conclusion that his “wild man” ways are completely in the past yet.
Bernard (@bernard)
19th May 2012, 14:35
Ditto
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
26th May 2012, 12:39
Judging by what’s he done today you may be right:
Maldonado handed ten-place grid penalty for Perez collision
TommyB (@tommyb89)
18th May 2012, 12:40
If this crash is Hamilton’s fault then the Damon Hill/Michael Schumacher 1994 Adelaide crash was Damon’s fault.
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
18th May 2012, 13:00
I think it was Lewis’ fault. He was no-where near alongside and just assumed Maldonado would pull over to let him through (like Schumacher had to earlier in the race — something Lewis called “dirty driving” over the team radio). That’s not fair racing, in my opinion.
You can pass fairly at Monaco. Take it away, Rubens.
Enigma (@enigma)
18th May 2012, 13:19
Dirty driving? Didn’t he say ‘sterling driver’ or something like that, as Schumache, unlike Massa and Maldonado, recognised Hamilton’s ‘move out of the way or we crash’ overtake.
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
18th May 2012, 13:28
Sounds very much like “dirty” to me. But I’m not entirely sure what he said! I think he was angry that Schumacher wanted to get through the corner without crashing or taking the escape route to get out of Hamilton’s way. As it was, he missed the barrier by inches.
Enigma (@enigma)
18th May 2012, 17:58
@damonsmedley It could be either, they both make sense I suppose…
David-A (@david-a)
18th May 2012, 21:45
@damonsmedley @enigma It always sounded like “dirty” to me. LH was in a bad state of mind that day, and I doubt he would have taken time out of that to praise Michael Schumacher. Ironically, a lot of the people who believed Hamilton wasn’t to blame for the two crashes actually used Schumacher as an example of how to race without contact in Monaco.
matt90 (@matt90)
19th May 2012, 11:57
You can’t see in this video how much he’s already tried backing out having already realised he wasn’t going to be given any space. I still haven’t seen an angle of this that makes what happened properly clear.
egsgeg
18th May 2012, 13:05
Yep, was Damons fault.
BasCB (@bascb)
18th May 2012, 15:29
From this angle it looks like they don’t even touch. Not sure about fault, but in my opinion Maldonado would have done wiser to give up the position and have Hamilton give it back to him for passing through the chicane (or still take home 7th)
Enigma (@enigma)
18th May 2012, 20:47
@bascb Well they touched before they appear on screen, so the contact itself isn’t in this video…
enko (@enko)
18th May 2012, 13:38
IMO, the context that this video angle gives shows that MAL took the line into the corner as if no one was on his inside (perhaps he did not know that HAM was there). If he had taken a wider line, assuming he knew HAM was there, then he would have ended the race. Monaco is an opportunistic type of a circuit so I do not fault HAM for trying the pass and hoping that drivers have more respect for each other than they apparently do.
AJ (@aj13)
18th May 2012, 13:45
I’m not sure there is any other line through that corner, except possibly at the start.
Todfod (@todfod)
18th May 2012, 14:56
Rubbish. Getting on the inside line doesn’t mean that the driver in front has to let you through. Hamilton was nowhere alongside him as you can clearly see Lewis’ front tyre was close to Maldonado’s rear tyre. Only an complete clown would concede his position in that situation
enko (@enko)
18th May 2012, 15:34
This video does not show the approach to the corner. So you rubbishing my opinion tells me that you are turning a blind eye to extrapolating a bit too much. My comments were made strictly on the context of this video.
HewisLamilton
18th May 2012, 16:08
Hamilton hit Maldonado, Hamilton was the one penalized. There is no question as to fault. They don’t penalize the innocent party. 100% Hamilton’s fault. 0% Maldonado’s fault.
Dan Brown (@danbrown180)
18th May 2012, 16:43
Exactly
David-A (@david-a)
18th May 2012, 22:25
I agree
BasCB (@bascb)
18th May 2012, 16:47
And off course at that point Hamilton was outside the limits of the track as well.
GeorgeDaviesF1 (@georgedaviesf1)
18th May 2012, 14:18
The more I see it the less I think Hamilton is 100% at fault.
I think it was David Croft on 5LiveF1 season review podcast who made a decent point that Maldonado would of been better off letting Hamilton past & banking points
ECWDanSelby (@ecwdanselby)
18th May 2012, 15:10
With all due respect, I don’t think that’s really the point.
You shouldn’t have to just concede position because you want points and a ‘greater’ car is coming through. If you say that, you may as well blue flag any car that isn’t in the top 3 in the Constructors.
I think you just have to look at the (un)written rule of ‘the car looking to overtake must be half way/greater than half way alongside the car in front’.
SatchelCharge (@satchelcharge)
18th May 2012, 17:11
Seriously I cannot believe my eyes, multiple comments about how a FORMULA 1 DRIVER should concede his position because there’s a faster car behind. What a joke. That’s not even getting into the fact that Hamilton had to smash the curb in order to place his car there, and to what purpose? He was barely able to match his front tire with Maldonado’s rear tire. That’s not a passing manoeuvre. Period.
GeorgeDaviesF1 (@georgedaviesf1)
18th May 2012, 18:39
I was just repeating what I’d heard
GeorgeDaviesF1 (@georgedaviesf1)
18th May 2012, 17:12
Im not saying thats what all cars should do but on this occasion in hindsight it would of been a better option
Enigma (@enigma)
18th May 2012, 20:53
The problem is some drivers (notably Hamilton and Schumacher) often overtake this way: they dive up the inside and leave it up to the defending driver to decide whether he wants to concede or collide. That’s what Senna often did and I remember Brundle being highly critical of it.
A good example is Hamilton on Button in Shanghai last year.
tvm (@)
20th May 2012, 9:58
If the leading car doesn’t want a car on the inside, they are free to close the gap BEFORE a car is there, that’s defensive driving, its a compromise and doing it after a car is occupying the place is to late.
I expect a true race driver (Hamilton, Schumaker, Alonso, Weber, Raikkonen) to go for any hole left open as they SHOULD, this is not Sunday cruise, its F1 for crying out loud.
Maldonado should have been penalized.
DaveW (@dmw)
18th May 2012, 15:24
Intereting that Maldonado was in GP2 in 2007. That is an eon ago in a racing career.
Also, as we have touched the most infamous weekend in Hamilton’s 2011 run of penalties and indictments, we should pause to note that Hamilton has now run 5 races without running afoul of the stewards for his work in the car. Of course, the team has assiduously wasted this divedend by their own errors and violations.
George (@george)
18th May 2012, 16:09
His drive in Spain was particularly impressive considering what happened the day before, the only problem with Hamilton this year is his race pace.
N
18th May 2012, 17:29
What are you smoking?
Hamiltons race pace has been solid. the PROBLEM this year has been his team, not him. Without all those pit stop problems, he’d be leading the championship by some margin.
David-A (@david-a)
18th May 2012, 21:50
He claimed he didn’t have great race pace in the first 2 races.
matt90 (@matt90)
19th May 2012, 12:04
I wouldn’t disagree with that, but I’d say in the last 3 races he seems to have done a good job.
James (@jamesf1)
18th May 2012, 17:25
A very interesting angle. Seeing this video makes me believe that Hamilton was at fault and deserved a penalty. In fact, the penalty he recieved was fairly light. I know Monaco is track that rewards the bravest, but also severely punishes the unfortunate (whether through a mechanical fault or driver error – own error or another’s).
Lewis should be applauded for trying to make an overtake and keeping the sport entertaining, but this was dangerous and a move which was only really going to end one way. Maldonado had the line into the corner. He might have left space, but it wasnt the width of an F1 car. Lewis went accross the kerb and off the track to overtake here. In doing so he caused another driver to crash through no fault of his own.
I should state I’m posting this as a neutral. I’m not a fan of Hamilton, and certainly not one of Maldonado. But how Lewis thought he was being victimised after this is beyond me. He might be in a better team, on a better wage and in a better car, but there is no need for bully boy tactics like this. Lewis is racing better this year. I’d like to think that he looked back on this at the end of the season and thought “yeh, maybe I was in the wrong there”.
enko (@enko)
18th May 2012, 18:01
I think this video is skewing things… At the time HAM claimed that MAL turned in early. This video does not show this, nor does it dispute it. Perspective/Context is what we have to take into consideration before dishing out ridicule.
OOliver
19th May 2012, 10:19
Well your take is Hamilton was trying to overtake using the Kerbs, my take is Hamilton was trying to avoid Maldonado turning in on him.
I have never seen Hamilton block another car the way Maldonao and Massa did in Monaco even to the extent of running another car into the wall.
But I have a feeling even if you had data that contradicts your assumption, you wont change your mind.
James (@jamesf1)
19th May 2012, 18:22
What were Massa and Maldonado going to do, gladly pull over and let them through? It’s a race, they were driving defensively for position.
Hallard (@hallard)
18th May 2012, 19:37
This is an interesting angle on the crash. After looking at the onboard from Hamilton’s car last year it looked to me like Maldonado may have turned in early and closed the door on Hamilton. But from this video it just looks like Maldonado took the same line as everyone else through that corner. I am now leaning more towards Hamilton’s penalty being deserved…
Lothario
18th May 2012, 19:49
What makes him so good round Monaco? He is hardly got home knowledge! Infact, he came from a completley different continent..
David-A (@david-a)
18th May 2012, 21:52
Yes, that’s why Senna never won at Monaco, or Schumacher never won in Japan or Canada…
Alex Brown (@splittimes)
18th May 2012, 22:40
My take: the incident was very much like Hamilton on Massa in India later in the year. It’s no good closing the line off when there’s already a car in that space, partly or wholly.
This footage doesn’t really show the entry into the corner, the overtake and its defense. All it really does is make me wish I could afford to get that close to the sound of screaming F1 engines.
matt90 (@matt90)
19th May 2012, 12:09
It depends on what we didn’t see, and what no angle has adequately shown. It depends if Hamilton only dived up the inside into a closing space and Maldonado had no real chance to avoid it. If he actually pulled up alongside the inside first, like on Massa in India, a penalty would be harsh. I can only assume that the FIA have seen more and that the former case was what happened.
davidwhite (@davidwhite)
18th May 2012, 23:53
It’s an interesting video but terrible for understanding the incident. If you try to overtake at Monaco you’re instantly taking a risk and as the car in front you’re also taking a risk – do you close the door as you would do on a normal circuit or concede the position. In this instance Hamilton was in a good position to put a move on Maldonado and some drivers would have conceded the position. Maldonado clearly isn’t such a driver and chose to have an accident instead. Hamilton threw the dice (and had earned the right to do so), Maldonado was in front and was not prepared to concede (which he had the right to do). A classic Monaco racing incident which you’ll always get around these streets. If you can’t accept this an want to start penalise drivers in these instances then it’s time we stopped racing in Monaco.
lightsout (@lightsout)
19th May 2012, 1:11
I think these two pictures are worth a view to remind us about this.
http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h405/pndmsq/hamiltonmonaco2011t1.jpg
http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h405/pndmsq/hamiltonmonacoturn1b.jpg
Julian (@julian)
19th May 2012, 10:49
In the first picture, seeming how the two top pictures are taken at the same place(angle, whatever you call it) and the bottom two are not, you cannot draw a proper conclusion from those photos.
In the second photo, you need to remember that they are on fresh tires, lower fuel loads and a rubbered-in track so the breaking distance is somewhat shorter (this also applies to the first picture now that I think about it) so once again:
You cannot draw any proper conclusions from those two photos.
Bernard (@bernard)
19th May 2012, 14:46
They are taken from the same camera, which is fixed to a lifting platform. The difference is because it is zoomed in slightly. Maldonado is further away from the outside of the track and he also turns in early – with complete disregard for the car on the inside.
The photos are the perfect example of people seeing what they want to see not what they actually see. Martin Brundle, after seeing those pictures, changed his mind and said Hamilton should not have been penalised.
Julian (@julian)
19th May 2012, 16:13
Shows how much I know about photography, ey :p
But regardless, I’m not seeing anything other than the fact that you can’t make any proper conclusions from those photos.
I’m not saying who’s fault it was or who we should blame nor do I even care.
I’m just saying that there are far to many variables involved (fuel loads, tyres, track conditions etc.) for a couple of photos to be conclusive evidence of who did what.
OOliver
19th May 2012, 10:03
All I see is Hamilton trying to avoid an accident and Maldonado thinking his car is made of concrete.
Hamilton was behind Malsonado for several laps and observed his turning point. Maldonado on seeing Hamilton changed his line and was attempting to climb the Kerbs much earlier. This is similar to what Massa did at the hair pin when he changed his line attempting to even mount the barrier.
Anyway Hamilton placed his car there so is assumed guilty. But I have seen Villinueve come from behind and Schumacher getting a penalty.
OOliver
20th May 2012, 9:47
How can Ferrari lose patience with Massa when they have neglected his own feelings numerous times.
Making him forfeit wins for the teams objective, even one that could have bolstered his confidence post accident.
They often use him as a tow to ensure Alonso can extract the maximum aerodynamic advantage.
They use him to slow down or even eliminate competitors that can be a treat to Alonso’s finishing position, to the detriment of his own race. Yet turn around to expect him to perform better.
History has shown us, only robots can be turned off and on at the press of a switch. When you try to do that we humans, you get some unintended effects. Motivation is usually the first casualty. Then a lack of confidence, and paranoia.