Maldonado Apologises to Marshal

Maldonado was banned for nine races by the race stewards for dangerous driving, after failing to obey yellow flags and subsequently hit a marshal. The incident occured at the top of the hill towards Casino Square: Patrick Pilet spun on his own and was being attended by the marshal when Maldonado arrived, striking both the marshal and Pilet's car.

But Maldonado said, in a press release issued by RDD, that he was too late to notice the yellow flags.

"We had been running for about half an hour and I was feeling confident in the car's handling," Maldonado said. "That was when Pilet crashed and the marshals came on to the track. The yellow flags were out, but I only saw them very late and could not avoid one of the marshals...

"I feel very bad. Gilles, the marshal I hit, could have been even more injured through my mistake. I went to see him the next day in hospital firstly to apologise, and also to show him my support. We talked about things calmly, then shook hands. I hope very much that he will recover quickly and will be able to marshal again."

Maldonado is scheduled to make his racing return at Donington, and the 20 year old said he will be "training hard to stay in shape and will be back in competition at Donington having learned the lesson of what happened in Monaco."

comments

Maldonado Apologises to Marshal

Renault Drivers Development protege Pastor Maldonado has made a public apology for his involvement in the incident last week, which saw a marshal injured during practice for the Monaco race of the World Series by Renault

About this article