McLaren chief Whitmarsh cautions Hamilton over tactics after Maldonado crash

London: McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh has asked Lewis Hamilton to be more calculative when tackling Williams driver Pastor Maldonado next time following their European Grand Prix crash.

Hamilton tried to resolutely defend third place in Valencia, but Maldonado’s car shoved him into a tyre wall and out of the race. Whitmarsh believes it was Maldonado’s fault, but agreed that Hamilton should have been more cautious and could have adopted a different approach. “My own view is that it was Maldonado’s fault. But he (Hamilton) is a racing driver and that is it. In hindsight, you say that, dealing with someone like that, you have to take a different approach, but you cannot anticipate it,” Whitmarsh was quoted as saying. Asked if he thought Hamilton was right to try and fend off Maldonado, Whitmarsh replied: “Clearly not.” Stewards handed Maldonado a 20-second penalty after the incident, which saw him lose his tenth position. It was the third time both drivers have clashed, the first was in Monaco last year when Hamilton was undeniably at fault. There is an argument, that on severely worn tyres, Hamilton should not have attempted to defend as much as he did in his bid to hold on to his third place, but Whitmarsh believes Hamilton was right to defend his lead. “To my mind he didn`t do anything different with Maldonado as with (Romain) Grosjean and (Kimi) Raikkonen, although it was a different outcome,” Whitmarsh said. ANI