At Monaco, he received a ten-place grid penalty for causing an avoidable collision with Sergio Pérez during a practice session (which subsequently may have led to Pérez's crash in qualifying, which caused the session to be red-flagged) and an additional five-place penalty for a gearbox change, meaning he started 24th and last on the grid. He retired due to an accident at the start of the race, when he ran into the back of Pedro de la Rosa's HRT who also retired with rear wing damage. At the end of second qualifying session in Canada, Maldonado crashed into the infamous "Wall of Champions" at the end of the lap in which he set the quickest sector 1 time, and was on course to bump Jenson Button out of Q3. Maldonado finished the qualifying session 17th and started the race from 22nd position after a five-place grid penalty after he was forced to change his gearbox due to damage suffered in the crash. Maldonado made good progress in the first stint, running as high as tenth mid-race, however after his pitstop he dropped back to seventeenth and finished the race in thirteenth place.