Belgian GP: Pastor Maldonado 'unlucky' in practice accident

The Lotus driver hit the barriers on the run to Pouhon after running wide, leaving him sidelined for the remainder of the session, having completed just two laps.

Maldonado later admitted that there was nothing wrong with his car before the crash, but also said that there was nothing he could do to avoid it.

"It was not a big shunt. For sure it looks big, but it was not actually big," he said.

"The problem was I got a huge wheelspin on the exit of Turn 9, and I touched the gravel.

"That's it, and it was worse when I touched the gravel. So the moment came on the exit of the corner, I lost the car and there was nothing I could do.

"To be honest, I didn't have a lot of incidents [this season], just two, maximum three.

"Sometimes it was from my side, sometimes it was a stupid one, like in China.

"Today is maybe a bit different - I just lost the car from the beginning because of the wheelspin, and I touched the grass, so I was a bit unlucky.

"It's nothing related to the car or from my side, [just] unlucky."

Despite missing valuable practice time, Maldonado is still confident of having a good weekend at Spa.

"I think we have still a good chance to be close to the top 10, and then in the race everything can happen. I think it's possible to do a good weekend here."