24/06/2012
NEWS STORY
Pastor Maldonado finished tenth in an incident-packed European Grand Prix, after making contact with Hamilton on the penultimate lap as the pair battled for the final podium position.
Pastor drove a strong race making a two-stop strategy work to close in on Hamilton in the final stages. Bruno's race was hampered by a collision with Kobayashi forcing him to pit with a right-rear puncture and in need of a new front wing while running seventh on lap 20.
After coming back in to serve a drive-through penalty following the collision, Bruno emerged 23rd and carved his way back through the field to 11th. Following a post-race steward's decision, Pastor received a drive-through penalty, equivalent to 20-second time added to the final results, promoting Bruno into tenth and the final points-paying position.
Pastor Maldonado: It was an unlucky race for us as we were looking strong for a podium finish. We were struggling at the beginning of the race but at the end I passed Lewis (Hamilton) and then he came back across. I jumped across the kerb but there was nothing I could do and we made contact. I was on a great lap after a great race. The car was feeling good and we had good pace.
Bruno Senna: I feel quite disappointed with today as we had good pace and the right strategy. It would have been difficult but it was working for us. However, after losing time with the puncture and then receiving the drive-through penalty it would have been difficult to get into the points even in a race like today. We got lucky with the timing of the safety car but on a positive note we had good tyre management and so we were looking competitive. Now we need to put it behind us and see it as a lesson learned.
Mark Gillan, Chief Operations Engineer: It was a very eventful race from which we should have secured a decent haul of points, so it is clearly disappointing to come away with a single point. As a team we will thoroughly review the weekend, regroup and aim to come back stronger at Silverstone.
Laurent Debout, Renault Sport F1 team support leader: It's a real shame to lose a potential podium in the final laps like that. Tenth position doesn't really do justice to the performance of the car all weekend - Pastor's third position on the grid shows what we were capable of.
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