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Pastor Maldonado has lost his third place on the Belgian Grand Prix grid after being penalised for blocking Nico Hulkenberg in qualifying.

The stewards imposed a three-place grid penalty on the Williams driver, dropping him to sixth.

The incident had taken place during Q1, with race control immediately announcing that it would be investigated.

The decision is set to elevate Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen to third, behind Jenson Button and Kamui Kobayashi.

Maldonado had declared his qualifying result a sign that Williams would have a much more competitive second half of the 2012 Formula 1 season.