Belgian GP: Maldonado blames Sutil for di Resta collision
Pastor Maldonado is adamant Adrian Sutil was to blame for his Belgian Grand Prix crash with Paul di Resta
The Williams man ploughed into di Resta at the Bus Stop chicane, amid a four-car battle also involving Sutil and Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez.
Maldonado was issued a 10-second stop and go penalty following the incident, but he believes it was unjustified, saying that Sutil, rather than himself, instigated the collision.
"I was touched by Adrian - I was trying to recover my line and he crossed my line in a very aggressive way and touched my front wing," Maldonado said.
"My car jumped and I lost control, lost the steering wheel. The impact was quite hard.
"Part of the wing went under the car and I lost traction at the front. It was nothing to do with di Resta - I was completely compromised by Sutil.
"The incident was caused by Sutil and I got the penalty; that's it. I didn't have control of the car when I crashed. That's why [the penalty] was unfair."
Di Resta speculated that Maldonado had been trying to cut across his bows in order to pit.
"I think Pastor missed the first apex, and when we were doing the cutback, he decided he wanted to come into the pits, which was a bit risky at that point," the Scot said.
"Until I've seen it properly, I'll reserve judgement."
Williams chief race engineer Xevi Pujolar said a lack of radio contact had contributed to the situation, as the team was unable to forewarn Maldonado.
"Pastor was in an unfortunate situation," Pujolar said.
"We wanted to get him in earlier than his traffic situation, but because the radio was not working we show him the pitboard and I could see he was getting quite busy into Turn 18.
"I was thinking it would get messy. You see it coming, but without radio you cannot do anything."
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About this article
| Series | Formula 1 |
| Drivers | Adrian Sutil , Paul di Resta , Pastor Maldonado |
| Author | Edd Straw |
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