Maldonado handed ten-place penalty

24/11/2012

Mat Coch writes:

Pastor Maldonado has been handed a ten-place grid penalty after failing to stop at the weighbridge during the second phase of qualifying.

Television footage showed that the Venezuelan did not follow directions during the second phase of qualifying, while the team also failed push his car back to the FIA garage to be weighed.

Mark Webber made a similar mistake in Austin however, the Red Bull team immediately pushed his car back to the weighbridge upon realising. The Australian was subsequently handed a reprimand for the mistake though no further action was taken.

Maldonado's penalty could therefore be considered lenient. The Williams team did not push his car back to the weighbridge but was still punished with only a reprimand.

Maldonado will take the ten-place penalty courtesy of picking up three reprimands during the season, however he escaped any serious punishment for missing the weighbridge.

It drops the Williams driver to sixteenth on the grid, promoting Fernando Alonso one spot closer to championship leader Sebastian Vettel.

Check out our Qualifying gallery, here.