Europe GP - Hamilton / Maldonaldo Incident.

From my point of view, while Hamilton defended his position, Maldonaldo however went off track, but attempted to continue to attack, which is an illegal manuever to attack while off track. Hamilton had the racing line coming to the incident corner. Maldonaldo should of yielded.

Hamilton though should have conceeded that his tyres were shot, and he was never going to hold the position. That coupled with their previous history should also have been enough for Hamilton to realise that Maldonado wasn't going to give up the attack right there, and the smarter move would have been to leave him room.

Both at fault, but Maldonado more so, as he should have braked more and pulled in behind Hamilton again, he'd have got him in the next few corners anyways.

Hamilton had every right to defend his position in my opinion. Yes his tires were going off but this is racing, you cant just let people through if your struggling. 100% Maldonado's fault, all he had to do was back off then he could have taken him further around the lap instead of illegally rejoining the track and taking Hamilton out.

Maldonado was on the kerb and had little/no control. Instead of doing what a normal driver would have done (braked and pulled in behind) he jumped the kerb and understeered into Lewis. 100% his fault. Lewis right to be furious

Completely Maldonado's fault. Yes, Hamilton's tyres were gone, but with only one lap left, he had every right to defend the position, and is under no obligation to yield position, unless a blue flag is waved at him.

What's more, is that Hamilton had the racing line, and doesn't have to leave any room for Maldonado. The fact is that Maldonado ran out of room, and instead of returning to the track safely, as almost every other driver would have done (especially considering it was almost inevitable that he would have gotten passed at some point), he decided to try and take position. Not only was this dangerous and overly-aggressive, but also would have been considered cheating, had he passed Hamilton that way anyway.

There are plenty of examples, where similar overtakes have been attempted. Raikkonen/Hamilton at Spa '08, Kubica/Alonso at Silverstone '10, and Maldonado even did this to Raikkonen at turn 17 on lap 2! I don't recall Hamilton driving into Raikkonen, or Alonso driving into Kubica, or Raikkonen driving into Maldonado. That's because these guys know how to drive and race properly.

I'm disgusted by Maldonado's etiquette on track, and if he had done this many 'mistakes' on track 20 years ago (Swiping Hamilton, swiping Perez and crashing into Hamilton) I wouldn't mind betting that he would have gotten a race ban. There is no excuse for this behaviour, and he certainly shouldn't be blaming Hamilton for his stupidity.

At fault is the one who designed the circuit. That corner is way two narrow for a F1 car.

Do you recall this ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NSikqc3WQY

Yes, I do recall that. However, the incidents are quite a bit different. Hamilton was clearly at fault there, but the collision happened before the corner, and was a mis-judged move by a hot-headed driver who was having a bad race, obviously that is no exception, and was wreckless. But it differs because of the collision before the corner. Had Hamilton skipped over the kerb to try and overtake Maldonado, then it would have almost been a carbon-copy at a different track.

I still don't think it excuses the fact that Maldonado's driving has been poor. Yes, he has won a race, but that doesn't mean he can use his car as a weapon on the track, and it certainly doesn't call for cutting the corner and then driving into someone. Yes, Hamilton didn't have much grip on his tyres, but that just meant that Maldonado had plenty of opportunities to pass, he could easily have backed off and waited for a much better chance, which was almost inevitable given the circumstances.

Don't think so. I think it was last lap and the circuit is very twisted.

No, it was the penultimate lap, which meant that there was a whole lap of opportunities ahead, and Hamilton's tyres would be getting worse. He should have stuck with him and then out-drove him out of a corner with a long straight the same way that Raikkonen had, because of the superior traction on better tyres.

And I presume Maldonado's tires would be getting better ?

Again, no, but they didn't look like they were about to 'fall off the cliff', especially with one lap remaining. So, like I said before, there would have been many more, and far better opportunites to overtake, without risk of collision.

Maldonaldo could of cleanly overtook Hamilton on turns 2 and 3 of the final lap. But impatience is not what F1 is.

Judgement has been passed: Source: Formula1.com




OH anyone remember when he ignored a Red Flag and smashed into two cars?

i fully agree with the pen for that race but lewis would have finished in the points dispite the fact he was falling back i also feel if lewis had done that he would of also got a grid pen for the next race, maldonado clearly has skill but is also a hot head so i doubt this will be the last incident