Maldonado defends himself: “I'm not dangerous”

Pastor Maldonado explains his reasons and defends his driving style from accusations after being punished by race stewards for the third time in four races at the British GP at Silverstone.

The Williams driver has been the author of numerous misconducts in recent times, which have undermined the excellent potential of Grove's car. In Monaco, the Venezuelan was punished with ten fewer places on the starting grid for having hindered the fastest lap of Sauber Sergio Perez, thus ruining his ninth place in qualifying, while in the race he collided with Romain Grosjean's Lotus. In the European Grand Prix in Valencia two weeks ago Maldonado was overtaking Lewis Hamilton's McLaren on the penultimate lap which was in tire trouble at the chicane, when the Englishman resisted the overtaking sending the Williams onto the curb: at that point the South American hit the side of the British car, sending it into the barriers, ruining the wing and losing third place. His tenth place finish was disqualified by the stewards, who held him responsible and under the regulations he was punished with a retroactive drive-through, which added 20 seconds to his total time. Finally, the recent accident with Perez at Silverstone, with the Venezuelan clumsily letting the Mexican overtake him and losing control on the curb, hitting the side of the Sauber, in a replay of the accident with Hamilton.

The commissioners fined Maldonado 10 thousand euros and issued a note of reprimand. However the 27-year-old Williams sees no reason to change his driving style and plans to fight in the same way at the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim on July 22. “I accept the penalty for the accident with Lewis, but in that circumstance I was a bit unlucky because I hit a curb and I no longer had direction on the front”, has explained. “It was different at Silverstone. The race was just starting, I had just made the pit stop and the tires were cold, I had no grip on the curb and I lost control of the car. It's clear that I made a mistake, but it's a racing situation. in the races before the start of the year I was very clean, I didn't have any problems. So I don't understand why I should change my driving style", the Venezuelan commented again.

Lorena Bianchi