The FIA has handed Pastor Maldonado a five-place grid drop for his actions during qualifying two in which he cut across the track and made contact with Lewis Hamilton, damaging the latters front-wing and right sidepod.
The governing body apportioned the majority of blame on the Williams driver, but found Hamilton to have also contributed to the accident and decided a reprimand was all that was needed for the McLaren driver.
Maldonado, who had qualified 16th, will now start the race from 21st position, which promotes Heikki Kovalainen, Paul di Resta, Jarno Trulli, Timo Glock and Jerome d’Ambrosio up by a single place each.
The Venezuelan denies he was trying to force Hamilton off-track, punishing him for an earlier incident which saw the Brit overtake him at the final chicane, impeding his flying lap.
“No, no, I don’t,” he said in response as to whether his move was intentional. “It was a difficult moment, there was no reason from my side, to have contact [with] Lewis.”
Revised starting grid for the Belgian GP:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Q1 Time | Q2 Time | Q3 Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 2:03.029 | 2:03.317 | 1:48.298 |
| 03. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 2:02.827 | 2:03.302 | 1:49.376 |
| 02. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 2:03.008 | 2:02.823 | 1:48.730 |
| 13. | J. Button | McLaren | 2:01.813 | 2:05.150 | |
| 07. | B. Senna | Renault | 2:05.047 | 2:04.452 | 1:51.121 |
| 08. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 2:04.450 | 2:02.768 | 1:51.251 |
| 04. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 2:05.834 | 2:04.507 | 1:50.256 |
| 15. | A. Sutil | Force India | 2:06.000 | 2:07.777 | |
| 21. | P. Maldonado | Williams | 2:05.621 | 2:08.106 | |
| 12. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 2:07.194 | 2:04.757 | |
| 09. | S. Perez | Sauber | 2:06.284 | 2:04.625 | 1:51.374 |
| 10. | V. Petrov | Renault | 2:05.292 | 2:03.466 | 1:52.303 |
| 14. | R. Barrichello | Williams | 2:05.720 | 2:07.349 | |
| 24. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | |||
| 05. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 2:05.091 | 2:03.723 | 1:50.552 |
| 11. | S. Buemi | Toro Rosso | 2:04.744 | 2:04.692 | |
| 06. | J. Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | 2:05.419 | 2:04.561 | 1:50.772 |
| 17. | P. di Resta | Force India | 2:07.758 | ||
| 18. | J. Trulli | Team Lotus | 2:08.773 | ||
| 23. | D. Ricciardo | Hispania | 2:13.077 | ||
| 16. | H. Kovalainen | Team Lotus | 2:06.780 | 2:08.354 | |
| 20. | J. d’Ambrosio | Virgin | 2:11.601 | ||
| 19. | T. Glock | Virgin | 2:09.566 | ||
| 22. | V. Liuzzi | Hispania | 2:11.616 | ||
| Q1 107% Time: | 2:10.339 | ||||
