Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsLotus F1

Maldonado almost crashes snatching P7

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Pastor Maldonado admits he had a "big moment" when overtaking Max Verstappen for seventh place late in the Austrian Grand Prix.

The Lotus driver had been catching Verstappen quickly in the final laps and was closing quickly using DRS on the approach to Turn 1. With the Toro Rosso moving to defend the inside line, Maldonado jinked to the left and almost lost control with the DRS still open, having to catch the car at high speed before managing to secure the position on the exit of the corner.

Maldonado says he was caught out by a lack of grip but pleased to secure his second point-scoring finish in a row.

“It’s great to get another seventh position and the points that come with it," Maldonado said. "It was a big moment fighting with Max. The super soft tyres were very hot so losing their grip and you lose a lot of downforce close to the car ahead, but everything was under control!

"I wanted to get the position and I think we deserved it. It seems like we’re coming into a good time of the season for us so we’ll all keep working hard to continue scoring points."

Deputy team principal Federico Gastaldi was impressed with Maldonado's reactions to keep the car under control.

"That was a fantastic drive from Pastor to take his second consecutive seventh position this season," Gastaldi said. "It was a tough tactical race where he saved fuel in his first stint then managed his tyres, doing everything that was asked of him from the pit wall, plus showing us an incredible bit of car control right at the end too."

Click here for the gallery of Raikkonen and Alonso's crash at the Austrian Grand Prix

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.