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.

 

[RasputinLives]

We can live in hope

Robin Frinjs might tell you that its a slim hope though as mistakes backed by money seem to be complely invisiable to the management of F1 teams

 

[Mephistopheles]

And yet the mechanics are often seen shaking their heads in dismay..

 

[F1Yorkshire]

http://hasmaldonadocrashedtoday.com/

 

[F1Yorkshire]

http://hasmaldonadocrashedtoday.com/

Shamelessly quoting myself here.

 

[Titch]

But it wasn't his fault, so does it count?

 

[soccerman17]

It counts towards his crash total, but shouldn't count towards his reputation.

 

[siffert_fan]

http://planetf1.com/driver/55667788/40038/Trio-hit-with-penalty-points

Two races in and he's already acquired 8 penalty points, so he's only 4 points short of a 1 race suspension! What a guy!

 

[Bleu]

Five of those penalty points are actually from last year and he will be with five once the Chinese weekend starts, thanks to three points for causing Gutierrez to flip go off the books.

 

[FB]

Am I the only one on here who thinks Pastor has the potential to be a race winner again?

 

[cider_and_toast]

Almost certainly. Tell us how you have come to hold this opinion ??

 

[FB]

He's fast, if a bit unpredictable and, as we have seen, if he has the right car he can win.

 

[cider_and_toast]

I think the last part of your statement is the kicker. Given his unpredictable nature, he's only likely going forward to find himself in cars where his money influences his seat. The teams that can give him the right car don't need his cash and certainly wouldn't give him a seat given the higher quality of driver they could attract. So unless Team Enstone dramtically improves I don't think he's likey to see the top spot again or for that matter, remain in F1 for too much longer.

 

[sushifiesta]

He's completely failed to show any signs of competence after his win in 2012. The only excuse he has is that he hasn't had a good car to work with in the last few years, but I don't think he would have survived in F1 beyond 2013 were it not for his money.

 

[Bill Boddy]

.... unless Team Williams dramtically improves I don't think he's likey to see the top spot again or for that matter, remain in F1 for too much longer.

You could have written this in 2012.

 

[RasputinLives]

After Pastor's spin today in China

Pit radio: Any damage Pastor?

Crofty in commentary: Just to his reputation.

 

[FB]

I seem to recall the current World Champion getting that corner wrong.

 

[RasputinLives]

Crofty was talking about the spin after that.

 

[FB]

Ah

 

[RasputinLives]

To be fair to you FB it is hard to keep track of all Pastors offs.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Am I the only one on here who thinks Pastor has the potential to be a race winner again?

Put any one of the drivers on the grid in a Mercedes and they could win a race, maybe not Mrs Wolff but still you know what I mean..