Pastor Maldonado received a 5 second time penalty in Brazil for a turn one collision with Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson, but the Venezuelan thinks the stewards shouldn’t be so trigger-happy penalising contact.
The FIA reportedly met up before the 2013 season with the race stewards and drivers including Sebastian Vettel in an attempt to make stewarding more lenient, fearing discipline exceeded the racing’s entertainment value, however, Maldonado believes penalties are still too easily awarded.
“There’s a saying that rubbing’s racing, but in Formula One it sometimes feels like you get penalised for every bit of contact,” Pastor explained to F1i.com
“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.”
The 30-year-old insists there are no bad feelings between him and Marcus after the on-track clash: “We spoke after the race and all’s fine between us. I think pretty much the same would have happened if positions were reversed and he had tried the same move on me.”
