Maldonado regrets accusing Williams of sabotage
Pastor Maldonado lost his temper in Austin just after the end of the qualifying session, accusing his team of sabotaging his car. The pressure has since eased, and the Venezuelan driver has made amends, admitting that he should not have reacted in such a way.
This weekend in Austin, following a glaring performance gap with Valtteri Bottas, Pastor Maldonado accused the Williams F1 team of sabotage, claiming that the Grove team favored Bottas who would still be there in 2014, unlike the Venezuelan.
Maldonado was eliminated in Q1, qualifying in 18th, while Valtteri Bottas reached Q3, securing 9th place on the grid. The Venezuelan was hindered twice during his fast laps – by Gutiérrez and Chilton, who were both penalized afterward – but he chose to blame his team. He retracted his statements after the race, citing excess stress for his inappropriate remarks.
Sometimes you are too stressed, and sometimes you just enjoy the moment, but there is always something behind it and after three years, you explode. I think I accumulate energy and I explode. It’s not that I’m crazy and start saying a lot of things like that. It was [the criticism] a bad thing on my part, because I have respected them for three years and they respect me. But sometimes, I am too stressed, especially the week of the announcement where I leave the team, Maldonado confided, as quoted by Autosport.
On the Twitter account of casinoenlignefrance.eu.com, one could read live on Sunday during the race in Austin:
#F1 Maldonado, 16th, also has a very damaged front wing. Sabotage? #AllezOnArrêtePromis
— La rédac’ de Motors Inside (@fanformule1) 17 November /f1/actualite/16581-maldonado-accuse-williams-de-sabotage.html
Next year, Maldonado will be replaced by Felipe Massa while for the moment, the future of the Maracay native is still uncertain, even though many observers place him as the favorite for the second Lotus seat.
