Maldonado unhappy with stewards' harshness

Pastor Maldonado believes his reputation has earned him unfair scrutiny and harshness on the part of race stewards.

The 30-year-old Venezuelan has indeed built up a repute over the years, having been involved in many on-track incidents in which his judgment and aggressive driving have been called into question.

Maldonado now believes the scrutiny is overdone, and any close encounter is too often blown out of proportion.

"When I make a mistake, even by myself without touching anyone, everybody is surprised and this is the news of the day," said Maldonado.

"All the other drivers crash, all the other drivers have incidents and nothing happens. Look at Bottas and Kimi, twice, and it's a simple racing incident. I have a stupid contact and everybody goes 'Agghh...'"

The stewards' unfair bias has led to harsher penalties according to Maldonado, something he thinks he just has to live with.

"It's not that they don't like me or not. I know all of them and they are just doing their jobs. But sometimes they have different views than the other races.

"I've seen so many incidents during the year and maybe they weren't that hard with their decisions. Sometimes with me they are a bit harder. It's part of the game. It's the same in football."

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