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[cheekybru]

For those pointing out saying that Schumacher, Senna etc did the same; it's not the same situation, Maldonado deliberately took a swipe at two different drivers in retaliation with nothing to gain on both occasions, Schumacher's and Senna's attempts where in an effort to win world titles and not to simply try to crash into someone in retaliation! I am not excusing Senna and Schumacher's actions but it's very different situations, comparing Schumacher, Senna etc with Maldonado is not possible, Maldonado is a hothead who likes to throw 'punches' when things don't go his way!

This

[zurich_allan]

For those pointing out saying that Schumacher, Senna etc did the same; it's not the same situation, Maldonado deliberately took a swipe at two different drivers in retaliation with nothing to gain on both occasions, Schumacher's and Senna's attempts where in an effort to win world titles and not to simply try to crash into someone in retaliation! I am not excusing Senna and Schumacher's actions but it's very different situations, comparing Schumacher, Senna etc with Maldonado is not possible, Maldonado is a hothead who likes to throw 'punches' when things don't go his way!

This

Give me a break!

Incidents like this have gone on in ALL motorsport for years and years. We just never saw it as much before as there didn't used to be a camera on and recording every turn and every driver from every angle at every moment of a race weekend before until literally the past couple of years.

James hunt used to punch and manhandle fellow drivers and marshalls in the heat of the moment. Paul Tracy (and others) in Indy have often gotten in fights in the heat of the moment? Does this mean they should be thrown out too??

And before many of the 'smart alec's' point out that Maldonado was in 'hundreds of kg's of machinery and so not the same as a fist fight I'd counter that by saying that a fist fight at the side of or in some cases even on the edge of the track whilst others are still racing (as has been the case in both of the cases mentioned) is much worse, as a car will do much worse to soft fleshy human tissue on impact at (comparatively) low speed than it will to a human who is tightly strapped in to similar heavy machinery in a protective carbon fibre cockpit.

Yet people celebrate and look back whimsically on some of the 'hot-headed' moments like that and celebrate them. For all of your information - James Hunt was an utter t*at, the fact it was 30+ years ago doesn't alter that - and it had nothing to do with his brawling etc. mentioned above.

It's called stupidity by not being able to equate like for like, or in actual fact more dangerous situations.

F1 should have characters like Pastor who are emotional, even if wrong in their actions in the heat of the moment (I'm not for a moment saying it's acceptable behaviour), I'd hate for all of the drivers in the pinacle of motorsport to be bland, corporate robots who give us nothing different to talk about.

Those saying that Pastor is a thug etc. are, in my opinion, completely wrong in a lot of ways.

[geetface9]

[Hammer278]

For those pointing out saying that Schumacher, Senna etc did the same; it's not the same situation, Maldonado deliberately took a swipe at two different drivers in retaliation with nothing to gain on both occasions, Schumacher's and Senna's attempts where in an effort to win world titles and not to simply try to crash into someone in retaliation! I am not excusing Senna and Schumacher's actions but it's very different situations, comparing Schumacher, Senna etc with Maldonado is not possible, Maldonado is a hothead who likes to throw 'punches' when things don't go his way!

This

Give me a break!

Incidents like this have gone on in ALL motorsport for years and years. We just never saw it as much before as there didn't used to be a camera on and recording every turn and every driver from every angle at every moment of a race weekend before until literally the past couple of years.

James hunt used to punch and manhandle fellow drivers and marshalls in the heat of the moment. Paul Tracy (and others) in Indy have often gotten in fights in the heat of the moment? Does this mean they should be thrown out too??

And before many of the 'smart alec's' point out that Maldonado was in 'hundreds of kg's of machinery and so not the same as a fist fight I'd counter that by saying that a fist fight at the side of or in some cases even on the edge of the track whilst others are still racing (as has been the case in both of the cases mentioned) is much worse, as a car will do much worse to soft fleshy human tissue on impact at (comparatively) low speed than it will to a human who is tightly strapped in to similar heavy machinery in a protective carbon fibre cockpit.

Yet people celebrate and look back whimsically on some of the 'hot-headed' moments like that and celebrate them. For all of your information - James Hunt was an utter t*at, the fact it was 30+ years ago doesn't alter that - and it had nothing to do with his brawling etc. mentioned above.

It's called stupidity by not being able to equate like for like, or in actual fact more dangerous situations.

F1 should have characters like Pastor who are emotional, even if wrong in their actions in the heat of the moment (I'm not for a moment saying it's acceptable behaviour), I'd hate for all of the drivers in the pinacle of motorsport to be bland, corporate robots who give us nothing different to talk about.

Those saying that Pastor is a thug etc. are, in my opinion, completely wrong in a lot of ways.

First time disagreeing with you zurichallan...

I understand we want 'characters' in F1, but by characters maybe drivers who show temper tantrums in interviews, or even while driving in a hotheaded manner, example would be Montoya. He was definitely a 'character' who everyone enjoyed (in various perspectives) though he was never 'malicious' on track.

Maldanado's actions are unforgivable IMO. To me, it's similar to Tyson's ear biting drama...it's not part of the sport and borders onto criminal. You can't use your car as a freaking weapon on track! Imagine everyone starts doing that, F1 might as well become some sort of street gangster sport with the professional aspect completely wiped off!

[andrew]

For those pointing out saying that Schumacher, Senna etc did the same; it's not the same situation, Maldonado deliberately took a swipe at two different drivers in retaliation with nothing to gain on both occasions, Schumacher's and Senna's attempts where in an effort to win world titles and not to simply try to crash into someone in retaliation! I am not excusing Senna and Schumacher's actions but it's very different situations, comparing Schumacher, Senna etc with Maldonado is not possible, Maldonado is a hothead who likes to throw 'punches' when things don't go his way!

This

Give me a break!

Incidents like this have gone on in ALL motorsport for years and years. We just never saw it as much before as there didn't used to be a camera on and recording every turn and every driver from every angle at every moment of a race weekend before until literally the past couple of years.

James hunt used to punch and manhandle fellow drivers and marshalls in the heat of the moment. Paul Tracy (and others) in Indy have often gotten in fights in the heat of the moment? Does this mean they should be thrown out too??

And before many of the 'smart alec's' point out that Maldonado was in 'hundreds of kg's of machinery and so not the same as a fist fight I'd counter that by saying that a fist fight at the side of or in some cases even on the edge of the track whilst others are still racing (as has been the case in both of the cases mentioned) is much worse, as a car will do much worse to soft fleshy human tissue on impact at (comparatively) low speed than it will to a human who is tightly strapped in to similar heavy machinery in a protective carbon fibre cockpit.

Yet people celebrate and look back whimsically on some of the 'hot-headed' moments like that and celebrate them. For all of your information - James Hunt was an utter t*at, the fact it was 30+ years ago doesn't alter that - and it had nothing to do with his brawling etc. mentioned above.

It's called stupidity by not being able to equate like for like, or in actual fact more dangerous situations.

F1 should have characters like Pastor who are emotional, even if wrong in their actions in the heat of the moment (I'm not for a moment saying it's acceptable behaviour), I'd hate for all of the drivers in the pinacle of motorsport to be bland, corporate robots who give us nothing different to talk about.

Those saying that Pastor is a thug etc. are, in my opinion, completely wrong in a lot of ways.

[madbrad]

Actually yes Paul Tracy should be booted from the sport. Not because he shoves other people, but because I'm so tired of looking at him. He thinks he's God's gift to the paddock. He's super arrogant, which of course is not unusual in the sport, but it's different with him. Ask all the other drivers in his series. Like Montoya he always blames the other driver in an incident and you yourself can watch some of them and you'll see how they are 100% his fault, and he has zero personality. He won the 1992 Indy 500 by cutting off his teammate Al UNser Jr. He was for a spell doing a column for the Toronto Sun, and he used it to complain about this incident or that the previous weekend where he once again took out a competitor and blames that driver. It was sickening reading. The thrill form West Hill, more like the Pill from West Hill. I am from West Hill too, and I am ashamed of it because of him. And he's too old to drive and he's too pigheadded to admit it.

[youtube]rEn6zJpXry8[/youtube]

[Hammer278]

This is Maldanado's chick:




I wouldn't mind crashing into cars on purpose if my actions would bag me a woman like this.

[LewEngBridewell]

Bloody hell, he's pulled a fine one there.

[darwin dali]

Nah, not really!

[LewEngBridewell]

Nah, not really!

Hmm. Two sides to every coin.

[geetface9]

She's not oustanding, but pretty good for the mug that pastor's working with I like the guy...though he'd be a bit harder to look at if I were up close

[andrew]

You don't look at the mantle when you're poking the fire.

[What's Burning?]

ZA, I disagree with you on this one. First like you, this simply my opinion. Only if something egregious enough happens that he's banned for a race or number of races by officials would we need to have that discussion. We're in agreement that type of on track behavior has always occurred, but whether your name be Hunt or Schumacher or Senna it's never excusable. Were we part of opinion is that it's never really entertaining as you put it, more grating and frustrating especially when the ruins someone's race and in the case of Perez, the penalty issued is less than the consequences suffered by Perez because of his subsequent mechanical failure.

Leaving the danger aspect out of the discussion...

I'll be entertained when someone does come over to Maldonado after an incident and coldcocks him. Looking forward to seen that from multiple angles on camera.

[scotty]

Punching a guy just isn't as bad as intentionally causing a car accident, i can't believe anyone would think that it is the same.

[zurich_allan]

Punching a guy just isn't as bad as intentionally causing a car accident, i can't believe anyone would think that it is the same.

I didn't say it was (assuming you're talking about what I said). If you properly read what I was saying, it's not just punching someone, or some other form of questionable behaviour similar to that, it's where that behaviour occurs that's the issue - that's what I was saying and what I absolutely believe is correct. Where these actions happen directly at the side of, or even on the edge of the actual track, this is highly dangerous - what if the assaulted party falls back into the path of an oncoming car? What if one of the drivers has their attention momentarily distracted by the incident when they are going at 100mph plus and make a mistake going into a wall or a fellow driver?

The problem is that one driver hitting another at 50mph when both are in a F1 car is highly unlikely to cause any injury whatsoever, whereas that same car hitting a human at the same speed is highly likely to result in death, or certainly extremely serious injury.

In other words, in the grand scheme of undesirable behaviour (which as I have said before, I am not disputing that this was - it unquestionably was a bad thing to do), this is at the lower end of the scale in terms of danger to the other driver, whereas a fist fight at the edge of the track is by far potentially more dangerous.

Different if it was a driver cutting another driver up or t-boning them at 200mph (see the Alex Zanardi accident), but that is not what we are talking about here.

So again, I completely stand by my original opinion.