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Lewis Hamilton infamously collided with former F1 driver Pastor Maldonado at the European Grand Prix in 2012. The two drivers were fighting for third place, with the Venezuelan driver trying to overtake Hamilton on the final lap of the race, resulting in the accident. A new clip of the incident has surfaced on Twitter, with fans defending the Briton.
Watch the clip below:
Hamilton and Maldonado battled each other intensely for third place at the race in Valencia. The Briton was ahead of the former Williams driver, who battled hard with Hamilton thanks to the newly-introduced Drag Reduction System (DRS) and a competent Williams car. The two drivers, however, collided after Maldonado left the track in order to overtake the then-one-time world champion and crashed into the rear-left side of his McLaren.
Hamilton, unfortunately, had to retire his car after the collision. The Briton was left fuming due to the incident which saw him slip to third in the championship. The Briton told the BBC after the race:
“A tough day in the office for us, but that’s life, you have to deal with it. As always I put my heart and soul into a race like that. You have ups and downs so I’m looking forward to the Silverstone Grand Prix.”
On the other side of the fence, Pastor Maldonado defended his own actions. The Venezuelan claimed Hamilton did not leave him enough space to reenter the track in a safe manner. He told the press:
“He tried to put me out of the track and he didn’t leave any room for me to stay and to do the corner side by side. I jumped over the kerb and I couldn’t avoid the accident. I don’t know why he drove like that, he was struggling too much with the tyres, he was completely lost and at that moment I was making very good pace.He tried a very aggressive movement on me.”
The FIA sided with Lewis Hamilton, giving his Williams counterpart a 20 second time-penalty at the end of the race for failing to safely rejoin the track. Due to the penalty, the former F1 driver finished the race in 12th place.
Lewis Hamilton and Pastor Maldonado crashed in Monaco in 2011
Pastor Maldonado unfortunately gained a reputation for being involved in a series of crashes all throughout his career. While his 2012 clash with Lewis Hamilton at the European Grand Prix might have been one of his lowest moments in the sport, the two were involved in a collision at the 2011 Monaco Grand Prix due to no fault of Maldonado.
With five laps to go, the Williams driver was running in sixth place, higher than the team had finished all season long, when a controversial move by Hamilton left the Venezuelan in the barriers. Heading into the legendary Sainte Devote corner, Hamilton tried going down the inside of the Williams driver, resulting in a crash which saw the single-time Grand Prix winner out of the race.
The 2008 world champion was given a 20-second time penalty by stewards who then deemed the move to be dangerous and inappropriate. Since the next driver Adrian Sutil was lapped behind Lewis Hamilton, the Briton did not lose a single position and went on to finish the race in sixth place.
