The Maldonado / Gutierrez collision: a “misunderstanding”
Pastor Maldonado reflected on the incident at the Bahrain Grand Prix with Esteban Gutierrez, explaining that the two men were able to discuss it. He also looks back on the Bahrain weekend.
If the Bahrain Grand Prix was so spectacular, it was due to the battles on the track but also because of the crash on the 40th lap when Pastor Maldonado, hitting the rear of Esteban Gutierrez’s Sauber, sent the Mexican’s car rolling over, fortunately without serious consequences, leading to the neutralization of the race for eight laps.
Judged responsible for the contact between the two cars, the Lotus driver received a triple penalty: first a 10-second stop-and-go during the Grand Prix, then, subsequently, three penalty points on his SuperLicense and a 5-place penalty on the grid of the next round in Shanghai. On the evening of the incident, Maldonado explained that he had nowhere to go and couldn’t avoid the contact.
Questioned about the aftermath of this collision, the Venezuelan stated that the two men had been able to discuss: “We contacted each other.” For him, all this was the result of a misunderstanding: “It was a misunderstanding on both sides. He was off the racing line going into the corner, and I was fully committed to the corner. He says he didn’t see me, and I wasn’t expecting him to turn like that.” It is noteworthy that, following the crash, Esteban Gutierrez will change his chassis.
Overall, apart from this incident, the Lotus race was not as good as expected: « It was a difficult weekend, mostly because the car’s pace was not what we were hoping for. » The driver with number 13 still wants to emphasize the positive points: « But, at the same time, we were able to finish all the sessions and the race without any issues. It was very positive in terms of reliability. »
On the issue of the engine, he expresses his optimism: “I think that collaborative work with Renault is helping us move forward.” An opinion that was undoubtedly not shared by his teammate, Romain Grosjean, who, at the end of the second day of private testing held in Bahrain after the weekend, could not hide his dissatisfaction with the reliability issues of the French hybrid unit.
« The car is improving and race reliability has been the first step in this process. Now, we need to focus on performance » concluded Maldonado, reported by PlanetF1.com.
