Maldonado critical of Hamilton

Speaking before the stewards of the meeting added 20 seconds to Hamilton's race time as a punishment for the incident, Maldonado - who was running sixth when the crash happened - explained that the shunt had cost him a great opportunity to score the first points of his career.

"I think he tried the same manoeuvre on myself that he tried on Felipe [Massa]," said Maldonado. "Exactly the same, he was too optimistic.

"This is a very narrow track and you must be very careful with your overtaking, I made very many passes during the race and I never had some problems because I was very convinced to do it. For sure he was maybe in some troubles because of his position - he is fighting for the championship.

"I think we did a great job until the crash."

Asked whether he thought Hamilton's attempted pass at Ste devote had been dangerous, Maldonado replied: "I don't know the stewards will decide.

"This corner is always very difficult because the corner is on the left side and you have all the straight, but it is not that straight it was one long corner, and when you arrive at that corner you find that the corner is exactly on the left so...

"It's always difficult to overtake there, you must be side-by-side and he wasn't. I think he was too optimistic because of the condition of the race. He was on the super-soft option tyres."

Maldonado added that he was hugely disappointed by the outcome of the accident, having performed strongly all weekend.

"Oh for sure ten points gone," he said. "They were important points for me. The team did a great job this weekend.

"I know the track very well and I was doing my job 100%. My pace was competitive, even with Ferrari at the beginning and even quicker than Renault and Mercedes. That is how the race is, we need to look forward now."