Maldonado receives ten grid place penalty

Williams F1 driver Pastor Maldonado has received a ten place grid penalty for the next race, the Italian Grand Prix. Pastor was given this penalty due to jumping the start in last Sunday's Belgium Grand Prix as well as colliding with Timo Glock.

Pastor was seen to get away from the grid well in advance of the rest of the field before being pushed into a spin as the crash involving Grosjean, Hamilton, Alonso and both Sauber's took place close to him.

Pastor would pit taking on new tyres but at the restart he would make contact with Timo Glock's Marussia seeing Pastor pull off the track with significant damage to the front of his car, ending his race. The stewards ruled that Pastors actions in the contact deserved a five-place penalty.

They also added an additional five-place drop as he had been unable to take the usual drive through penalty for a jump-start in the race due to his early retirement.

"The driver failed to finish the race so the usual penalty for a false start could not be imposed," said an official statement.

Pastor would accept that it was his mistake at the start that saw him leave the grid prematurely. Pastor said: "I made a slight mistake at the start because the clutch slipped out of my hands before the red light switched off."