Maldonado: F1 'penalises every bit of contact'

A frustrated Pastor Maldonado is still unhappy about the five second penalty he received after making contact with Sauber's Marcus Ericsson going into turn 1 at Interlagos midway through the Brazilian Grand Prix last week.

"There’s a saying that rubbing’s racing [but] in Formula One it sometimes feels like you get penalised for every bit of contact," the Lotus F1 Team driver said, having reflected on the incident over the intervening days.

"I went for a gap that was there – and we all want to see overtaking in Formula One – and he closed the gap whilst defending his position.

"I saw it as a racing incident, and on a corner like turn one in Brazil the driver on the outside will usually come off worse."

Maldonado insisted there were no lingering bad feelings between himself and Eriksson and no potential for a running feud between the two drivers to carry over into next weekend's race at Abu Dhabi.

"We spoke after the race and all’s fine between us," he said. "I think pretty much the same would have happened if positions were reversed and he had tried the same move on me."

While Maldonado was criticised over the incident by Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn, the Venezuelan had been supported by Lotus' trackside operations director Alan Permane

"I thought it was a racing incident but then I’m probably a bit biased," Permane insisted on the day. "Ericsson could’ve given him a little more room. They do just clip each other.

"I thought it [the five second penalty] was a bit harsh to be honest," Permane said, adding that he's voiced his opinion to race director Charlie Whiting. "As they’re supposed to be cutting down on those sort of things I can’t see that it was absolutely 100 per cent Pastor’s fault and in that case it shouldn’t have been a penalty."

For Maldonado, the whole incident was the result of a poor qualifying which had left him on the back foot, and overall getting a points finish after starting from 15th place on the grid had been a decent achievement despite the penalty without which he might have been able to edge Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen for ninth.

"We didn’t qualify where we wanted and in the race we used a different tyre strategy to help us fight back.

"It was a good race in the car and one where you had to be patient at the start when using the harder tyres than those around you, then push hard when you’re on softer tyres to your rivals.

"It worked well, even if it was frustrating when the other cars were on the faster Pirellis – as it must have been frustrating for them when I was the one able to attack.

"To get P10 after starting in P15, especially at this late stage of the season, was a positive result," he pointed out, hoping that the upswing in form for the team would carry through to a successful final outing of the year next weekend in Abu Dhabi.

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