Gillan defends Maldonado

Amidst the criticism, there also seems to be slight support for Pastor Maldonado. The driver has been subjected to a lot of angry looks after he ruined Sergio Perez’ race in the British Grand Prix. Williams Chief Operations Engineer Mark Gillan has defended the driver by blaming Perez for their crash in the British Grand Prix. During the race, Perez tried to pass Maldonado and in response, the Williams driver ran into the Sauber. Perez called him a ‘dangerous driver’ who has ‘no respect for other drivers’.

Maldonado has had similar incidents before this season and is heavily criticized for his driving. However, Gillan said: “We looked at it; in our opinion Perez squeezed Pastor. Pastor had the inside line, he braked, he locked the wheels and effectively grabbed the car. You can see a heavy twitch where he is fighting the car and the back end pushed right and hit Perez, so to me it is a racing incident. I cannot see anything in it myself.”

Maldonado has been given a EUR 10,000 fine for his move in the British Grand Prix. Though Gillan admitted the team confronts him with these situations after a race, he said it will not change his confidence or driver style. He said: “Of course we spoke to him. We say ‘you have got to bring it home’ to both the drivers, but with this one when he braked he was on the line and the car unfortunately just lost grip and he just could not control it. He definitely did not want to hit Perez, that is for sure.”

“He is very mentally robust and certainly that is a major strength of his. He is not fazed by it and he just wants to drive the car as quickly as he can and he usually does. So I do not have any worries about that at all.”

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