Pastor maldonado12/23/2023 ![]() It eventually did, though not until after the end of a season in which the team’s lack of funds had been painfully and embarrassingly apparent. However Lotus was also facing financial difficulties, and spent much of the season waiting to see if a promised buyout by Renault would come to pass. This, combined with a more conventional and effective design in the E23, made the team regular points contenders once again. 2015įor Maldonado’s second season at Lotus the team had secured a supply of the class-leading Mercedes power units. The only bright moment in an otherwise gloomy year came at the Circuit of the Americas, where Maldonado took his sole points finish of the season. He aggravated the situation with some needless mistakes, however, including a collision with Esteban Gutierrez at Bahrain which flipped the Sauber driver onto his roll hoop. This was frustrating for Maldonado’s whose efforts were repeatedly derailed by a series of car problems. While Williams’ switch to Mercedes saw them enjoy their best season in over a decade, Lotus struggled dreadfully with Renault’s uncompetitive power unit. Maldonado’s move was unfortunately timed. Maldonado grew frustrated with the situation and elected to end his contract with the team, taking his PDVSA backing to Lotus in 2014. They were forced to slow down their pit stops for safety reasons, further harming their competitiveness. Making matters worse, the team suffered problems with its wheel nuts late in the season, two of which failed on Maldonado’s car during practice sessions. Rarely in contention for points, Maldonado took just one, in Hungary, after the late retirement of several rivals in front of him. Maldonado had high hopes for the team’s 2013 car after sampling it in testing, but the team slumped badly once the season began. He ended the year with another crash in Brazil, but the team subsequently announced he would remain with them in 2013. A string of collisions led to several penalties, including three in one weekend in Belgium.Īfter that Maldonado made an effort to clean up his driving and produced strong performances in Singapore (before his car broke down) and Abu Dhabi (where he slipped to fifth after a KERS failure). Alonso beat him to the first corner, but Maldonado jumped ahead through the pit stops and withstood fierce pressure from the Ferrari driver to clinch his first victory.įollowing his breakthrough win nine races passed before he appeared in the points. But the revised, Renault-engined car had already shown more potential than its predecessor.įour races later in Spain the pair shared the front row of the grid, Maldonado having inherited pole position from a penalised Hamilton. Maldonado’s second season got off to a disappointing start when he crashed out of sixth place on the final lap of the Australian Grand Prix while trying to pass Fernando Alonso. He compared well against experienced team mate Rubens Barrichello, especially in qualifying, and earned a contract extension for 2012.Īdvert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free There might have been more at Monaco but for a late tangle with Lewis Hamilton which left him in the barriers. Williams 2011ĭriving one of the least competitive cars Williams has ever produced, Maldonado managed to score a single point in his first season. Following the test Williams signed him to take Hulkenberg’s place in 2011. That secured the title and handed him testing opportunities with Williams and HRT at the end of the year. He put his three years’ experience to good use and set a new record for the series with six consecutive feature race wins. Maldonado stayed in GP and returned to Piquet’s team, now renamed Rapax. Although he won twice, including the Monaco sprint race, he ended the year sixth while Hulkenberg won the title. In 2009 he joined top team ART along with rookie Nico Hulkenberg. He moved into GP2 with Trident in 2007 and won the Monaco round.Ī switch to Piquet Sports in 2008 saw him finish fifth in the championship. Maldonado returned to the series the following year and finished third in the championship for Draco. The marshal was attending to another driver who had spun when Maldonado arrived on the scene and hit them both. ![]() However he was banned for nine races after he ran into a marshal during practice at Monaco.
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