Minardi disappointed with Maldonado penalty

Giancarlo Minardi has suggested that the FIA allow a little more leeway when it comes to drivers battling on track after Pastor Maldonado saw his bid for points at the Hungarian Grand Prix dented by a drive-thru' penalty.

The Venezuelan had a car capable of running in the top ten, having qualified eighth at the Hungaroring, but a poor start left him fighting with Force India's Paul di Resta on the fringes of the points while Williams team-mate Bruno Senna enjoyed a strong run to seventh. Maldonado's race came to a head when he attempted to pass di Resta just over 20 laps from the end of the Budapest race, only to collide with the Scot.

While Maldonado's reputation for contact may have caused the stewards to react in the way they did, handing down the drive-thru' that dropped the Williams to 13th, Minardi - who gave the Venezuelan his debut in an F1 car - suggested that perhaps the officials could have handled the matter differently.

"For the first time since the beginning of the season, the GP we saw in Budapest wasn't as exciting as the others," he lamented, "Everything was so predictable, only two or three overtaking [manoeuvres], like the one handled by [Fernando] Alonso on [Kimi] Raikkonen at the beginning of the race, which probably denied the Finn to score a win and the one handled by Maldonado, which cost him a penalty.

"I think we're going too far! We want drivers to overtake but, even after a slight clash, they are penalised. I think FIA is exaggerating."