Pastor Maldonado

Courtesy of Planet F1 and Tranquility's post in the Belgian PQR thread here's a place to discuss the Williams' No.2

"Is Pastor Maldonado the scariest man in sport? His post-Spa interview was delivered with a stare that could put a weak-hearted man six foot under from a distance of ten yards and culminated in the remarkable, utterly-terrifying announcement that he regards Lewis Hamilton as "a really good friend."

Jeepers.

Just jeepers.

Fear and pray for his enemies."

Pastor started his racing career in Italy in the Formula Renault and F3000. He would have been Formula Renault 3.5 Champion if he hadn't been disqualified from a win at Misano in 2006. Moving on to GP2 Pastor raced for 4 seasons, eventually taking the title in 2010.

With not insubstantial financial backing from Venezuela's national petroleum company, PDVSA, he took Nico Hulkenberg's seat at Williams for 2011 winning his first point last weekend in Belgium.

On a personal level, he is a self proclaimed Socialist and a personal friend of controversial Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, which probably explains the backing from PDVSA.... Oh, and he's 26 and is still wearing braces on his teeth.

 

[Brogan]

Maldonado refuses to tone down his aggression or change approach.

Pastor Maldonado says he is not planning to change his approach to racing despite the penalties he has been handed this year.

The Williams driver, the winner of the Spanish Grand Prix, was given a penalty for crashing with Sauber's Sergio Perez in Monaco and another one for his contact with Lewis Hamilton in Valencia.

His aggressive style has meant he has crashed several times this year, but Maldonado insists he does not intend to change his approach as he reckons drivers are making a difference in such a tight field this year.

"For sure, I will drive in the same way and so we need to push," said Maldonado. "The gaps are very close and I think the drivers are making the difference at the moment."

Maldonado, who made his Formula 1 debut last year with Williams, believes the penalties have just been a consequence of bad luck, and he feels the clash with Hamilton was simply a racing incident.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/100917

 

[Mephistopheles]

I remember Lewis saying almost the exact same thing last year (This is not a criticism, simply a fact)

Lewis Hamilton insists he will not change his driving style, following criticism that he is too aggressive.
The 2008 world champion has been involved in a number of high-profile incidents this season.
"I'll take my driving style to my deathbed, for sure," the McLaren driver told BBC Sport.
"People overreact to everything. You make a squeak and people overreact to it. That's the way of this world."
Formula 1 legends Niki Lauda and Sir Stirling Moss are among critics of Hamilton's driving, and Ferrari rival Felipe Massa thinks the Briton needs to "calm down".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/14077036

 

[Incubus]

Nothing wrong in having an impressive approach.
It's not a driver's approach that causes a collision. It's making a mistake. Sounds silly to say but that's basically it.

 

[Mephistopheles]

It seems odd that the two articles are dated almost exactly a year apart and say almost exactly the same thing maybe some journalist just get bored and revamp an old story...

 

[Lewywo4]

I remember Lewis saying almost the exact same thing last year (This is not a criticism, simply a fact)

Also a fact.........Lewis has never deliberately run into another driver in any manner, but the same can't be said for Pastor, as exemplified by his actions at Spa in 2011.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I'm not going to be drawn into an argument....

 

[racecub]

So Pastor's not going to change his style of driving. He's going to continue to drive into competitor's if they are on the piece of track he wants, he has a grudge against them, he's annoyed because they are ahead, he's annoyed because he can't get past them etc etc
Well those punishments and reprimands he received for his transgressions certainly did the trick!

 

[FB]

And you'd be cheering from the rafters if he'd run into Alonso/Vettel/Button etc. and allowed Hamilton to win the race racecub. Please keep some perspective. What did you expect him to say "I'm most terribly sorry, henceforth I shall not attempt to overtake another car, in fact I will make sure I am last on the grid and pull into the pits at the end of the first lap to avoid any further confrontation with anyone"?

I fully expect Maldonado to be more circumspect in the coming races but my making a statement such as this it puts pressure onto his opponents as he comes up to pass them as they will be worried what he might do. What this says to me is that Pastor is a winner and will use every possible opportunity to try and out psych his opponents. As to the grudge, where on earth has that come from?

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Glad to know that Pastor will continue to spear people from off-circuit in his quest to take out anyone who thinks they can finish in front of him. Just admit you were a twat, Maldo. I've got nothing against aggressive racing so long as it is racing and not bad sportsmanship. Any professional sportsman has a duty to act like one.

 

[racecub]

FB Excuse me FB but there is no way I would be cheering if Maldonado took off any driver by his dubious manoevers! I do not expect him to stop overtaking cars, I expect him to do so cleanly without spearing them after returning unsafely to the track.
The grudge comes from his deliberate swerve into hamilton after the chequered flag in a practice session. He made a similar move to that on Perez.

 

[KekeTheKing]

I fully expect Maldonado to be more circumspect in the coming races

Is there a single shred of evidence that this might be the case? His numerous wrist-slap penalties have had little to no effect on his circuit conduct in the past, in every series he's ever raced. In fact, you could say he's actually been emboldened by his incidents and has become even more aggressive over time.

What this says to me is that Pastor is a winner and will use every possible opportunity to try and out psych his opponents

Really? I know you see this as a legitimate "tactic", but once again there is absolutely no evidence that Maldonado is a "thinking" driver on this level. Someone who has repeatedly driven into his competitors on purpose need not "psych" them out. His message has been blunt, simple, and clear, "stay out of my way"!

 

[The Artist.....]

It's interesting that almost to a man, the radio 5 live team classified this as a racing incident- and most of them thought of it as a 50/50 incident!

 

[KekeTheKing]

It's interesting that almost to a man, the radio 5 live team classified this as a racing incident- and most of them thought of it as a 50/50 incident!

That's patently untrue. Do I need to provide the 5 Live audio for you, because I have it.

Alguersuari plainly observes (as does anyone without bias) that Maldonado is off the circuit and that he alone created the contact. Legard unequivocally concurred with the former F1 racers view.


You're wrong on all accounts The Artist..... and if you cant even remember someones exact words, why on earth are you claiming that they said it was 50/50?

Why you felt the need to erroneously claim that the 5 Live Crew saw this as 50/50 "to a man" is beyond me. Not a single recent post even mentioned the Valencia incident anyway. Everyone points to Spa 11 and Monaco 12 as his most egregious and blatant acts of blind aggression.

Watch this space for the audio that goes like this;

(VERBATIM FROM THE BROADCAST)

Alguersuari: "Maldonado had to back off because Lewis has this line you know, and at this point, fairly say, from the regulations point of view, Maldonado's off the track. You know what I mean"

Legard: "Absolutely I know what you mean"

JA: "It's like, he has to back off because there's no room for two cars. He had to back off, and he didn't"

JL: "He ran wide off the track and now Hamilton's out of the race"

 

[The Artist.....]

Go on then keke... Put the entire audio on from that discussion

 

[The Artist.....]

-Gary Anderson stated that it was clearly 50/50 as Hamilton had not left room at the exit.

-alguersuari stated that Hamilton should have been more circumspect.

I can't remember james allen's exact words.

 

[FB]

Guys - we have been through this discussion MANY times already and I think we know where everyone stand. Further posts on the subject will be deleted.

And my apologies to racecub for my previous post

Thanks

FB

 

[ExtremeNinja]

I've not seen any discussion over what JA, GA or JA said and I'd quite like to know. If either of you get to the bottom of this, please PM me.

 

[The Artist.....]

That's patently untrue. Do I need to provide the 5 Live audio for you, because I have it.


You're wrong on all accounts The Artist..... and if you cant even remember someones exact words, why on earth are you claiming that they said it was 50/50?

Just to be absolutely clear, my previous post relates to FP1 at Silverstone, whilst KekeTheKing 's post relates to the commentary at Valencia....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01l4n3v/Formula_1_2012_The_British_Grand_Prix_Practice_One/

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Pastor Maldonado collected his fifth penalty of the season in Valencia, the second for a driving infringement while the other three were for gearbox changes. One more will bring him equal with a certain Lewis Hamilton who was given a record six in 2011.

 

[teabagyokel]

Note: that's Hamilton's whole 2011.