Maldonado handed 10-place penalty

Pastor Maldonado has been handed a 10-place grid penalty for Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix following a moment of madness in final practice.

The winner of the Spanish Grand Prix 13 days ago was hauled before the stewards after the hour-long session for appearing to turn in on Sergio Perez in his Sauber at Portier, the corner before the entry to the tunnel.

Perez immediately reported the incident to his team over the in-car radio, claiming "Maldonado is crazy".

The stewards agreed, which means the Venezuelan has virtually no chance of back-to-back wins after his debut triumph in Barcelona and the first victory for Williams for seven and a half years.

Following the incident with Perez, Maldonado's session then went from bad to worse as he went on to hit a barrier on entry into Casino Square.

The impact sent him colliding into a barrier on the opposite side of the circuit, resulting in him losing his left-rear wheel and severely damaging the bodywork.

Maldonado eventually trundled down the short straight to Mirabeau where he parked up, forcing practice to be red flagged and leaving the team with a race against time to prepare the car for qualifying.