United Kingdom: Maldonado excluded from qualifying
Pastor Maldonado was excluded from the qualifying session of the British Grand Prix because he was unable to bring his Lotus back to the pits and because it did not contain enough fuel.
During the qualifying session held this afternoon at Silverstone, Pastor Maldonado stopped on track at the end of Q2 due to a fuel issue, and after analysis by the race stewards, it was found that the Venezuelan’s Lotus E22 did not contain enough fuel as required by Article 6.2.2 of the regulations. He was therefore excluded from the qualifying session.
According to the FIA, he would have needed 2.1 liters to return to the pits, but analysis showed there was only 0.6 liters of fuel on board his Lotus. He was excluded from the qualifying but allowed to take part in the race tomorrow.
He will start from the 20th position on the grid – ahead of the Caterhams that did not qualify within the 107% rule – even though he had set the 15th fastest time and should have started from 13th place due to the penalties of Chilton (gearbox change, 5 places) and Gutiérrez (unsafe release during the Austrian GP, 10 places).
