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.

 

[Olivier]

Yeah lauda psid for his 1st season thru a bank rush said, Schumacher had his Jordan drive paid for by mercedes
Alonso got minardi drive thru sponsorship I thought
I thought senna bought his way into toleman. But this 1 I might be wrong

I think Telefonica decided to sponsor Minardi with Spanish drivers in mind, particularly Gene but Alonso was also hired that same year 2000 as test driver. Telefonica would pull off for 2001 but Alonso continued with Minardi. It is clear that Minardi was more interested in what Telefonica could do for the team, but ultimately it was not to be.

 

[RasputinLives]

There is no way Red Bull would let their money maker mooch off to Renault!

 

[Titch]

OK sorry folks. False alarm, brain fart. It was Magnusson not Verstappen.

 

[Bill Boddy]

So it's the naughty step for you then.

 

[Il_leone]

Good Riddance am afraid I don;t see the team supporting him for all his repair bills

Before we toast to that . What if Maldonado's backers do come up with the money? Would Manor consider having him and Hiryanto? That is a combined money of £60m sponsorship potentially

 

[Greenlantern101]

Well yeh, but they would waste all that money in hand soap and shampoo.


...dirty...so...dirty...why..won't..it..come..off.. dirty..dirty....so...dirty....

 

[Il_leone]

seems like K Mag has got the drive although it Pastor comes up with the money it would be interesting

 

[Greenlantern101]

HES GONE. ITS OFFICIAL.

TwitLonger — When you talk too much for Twitter

Febrero 01-2016 My dear fans, I am writing to you with respect. As everyone knows in recent days have been a number of rumors about my immediate future in Formula One. It's been 23 years in the most exciting sports I started at a very young age, with the help of my family, we grew up and went to form as a professional, I met the taste of triumph, the one that always leaves you with more and more desire to fight. A few years become teen I went in search of my dreams to unknown lands, without the warmth of my people, of my roots, my Venezuela. At that time, I became man and realized that there were many things that could me away from my goal, yet always succeeded. The World Karting, Formula Renault 2000, Formula 3000, Word Series and GP2 championship unforgettable. I got used to winning, we received over 200 trophies, of all sizes, shapes, shine, finally, my whole lifetime of achievement in an incredibly wonderful and great pride for my own space. Arrived as expected, sleep, so he justified all my means, Formula One, a category that gave me even the most anticipated of my victories, this Grand Prix of Spain in 2012. All this thanks to the continued support of my family, of international fans and especially my great country, that it was heard with our glorious anthem and traveled the world, because I carry my flag not only in my car but in my soul and so to the very top of the podium. Today most humbly inform you that no I will be present at the starting grid for the 2016 F1 season, thanks for all your messages of support, passion and concern for my future. I feel very honored with the support of all of you and proud of my professional performance. I confirm my feelings of gratitude to God, my family, my sponsors, my friends, my fans and all who have helped realize this great dream of being able to represent Venezuela to the pinnacle of motorsport. Soon !.Pastor Maldonado

 

[Johnny Carwash]

Great news that he is no longer in F1. Will not in any way be sad to say him go.

 

[Titch]

Bye Bye Pastor.

 

[gethinceri]

You'll never be forgotten Pedro.

 

[Road of Bones]

With that "tweet" (or perhaps "squawk", or even "screech") I hereby coin a new type of Wronglish: Maltalk!

 

[Greenlantern101]

To be fair thats a google translation of what ever language he speaks. Hopefully he isn't that retarded in his own tongue.

 

[Il_leone]

I would not congratulate so soon if Sauber or Manor seriously need money drivers and Pastor can still come up with the money. What would make those teams not to say no then?

 

[Il_leone]

I should add Pastor has stated he does not want to be running at the back so it looks like he is gone for now

 

[Olivier]

Farewell Pastor. One hit wonder. Didn't do much more but has more wins than Grosjean and Hulkenberg.

 

[Spinodontosaurus]

I would not congratulate so soon if Sauber or Manor seriously need money drivers and Pastor can still come up with the money. What would make those teams not to say no then?

Sauber already have two pay drivers that both bring a lot of money, especially Nasr, so I doubt it.
At most I could maybe see Maldonado replacing Ericsson, which could actually have been a positive move as it wouldn't be much of a downgrade (if at all) and gives us a more established benchmark to judge Nasr against.
I mean, Maldonado is a poor quality benchmark, but his position on the grid is quite well established due to the drivers he has faced and the time he has spent in the sport. Ericsson also seems similarly poor quality but we can only judge him based on a single season against Kobayashi in the dreadful Caterham, so it's hard to say how good/bad he is and thus even harder to rate Nasr. Nasr scored 3 times as many points as Ericsson, which is impressive, but how impressive?

It may seem like an odd thing to consider but I like being able to try and judge the drivers (and teams) relative to the rest of the grid, which is why a small part of me is disappointed we won't get to see Palmer vs. Maldonado this season (and also why I don't really care too much about the Toro Rosso pair, but I'm getting off-topic).

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he is gone and that Magnussen is getting a second chance, But I was kind of hoping Maldonado would join Manor. He would surely be no worse than whatever other pay drivers they chose to run would be and as before gives us an established reference point. Namely we would have a way to rate Haas and Manor relative to one another, thanks also to Haas running Grosjean.
But given the state of Venezuela's economy that seems very unlikely lets be honest.

 

[F1Brits_90]

As maldonado has now left f1, it made me wonder about the number 13 in f1 because I know it always had weird feeling in all sport, some football teams dont use it all & that when we had car numbers based on constructors championship it went 11/12 & 14/15. So FIA were sure that no1 driver in 7th place team of the previous years constructors championship didnt have any superstitious worries. But looking into I think even most skeptical person would stop to consider, because I was looking at Pastor Maldonado & his career has gone rapidly downhill since he took the 'unlucky' number 13. At Williams he had 14 dnf's in 58 gp in his 3yr spell without it & he moves to Lotus takes the 13 (because its lucky in venezuela ) & has had 15 dnfs in last 2 seasons (39 gps) inc 8 retirements in 1st 12 2015 gps

Then there's 3 others I know from F1 in early years & indycar 2009.

• It was used in the early years of the sport but in the 1920s it was dropped after the Delage factory team suffered 2 fatal accidents using the number in the course of just a few months The first was Paul Torchy during the San Sebastian GP in September 1925
• at the Targa Florio in Sicily in April 1926. Giulio Masetti number 13 on that occasion and was killed when his car went up an embankment and overturned He was crushed beneath the car,
• also in the 1960's Moises Solana retired from a point scoring position in his home gp at the old Hermanos Rodriguez as his engine gave up with 8 laps to go
• also fellow Venezuelan EJ Viso in the Indycar series took 13 in 2009 & he had just as bad luck as Maldonado has had as Viso retired from the 1st 7 races, took him til end of june for him to finally see chequered flag. only managed 1 top 10 in whole 17 race season, (which I might be wrong but I think was the only time that season EJ Viso finished on lead lap)

 

[sushifiesta]

Unless I could think of a number that really meant something to me I would be very tempted to race with 13 if I was an F1/race driver just to prove that it being unlucky is bullshit (or at least I could use it as an excuse when some poor unsuspecting team principal decides to give me a drive only to watch me stick it in the wall every week).

Plus there are cultures where 13 is a lucky number, which is why Maldonado picked it in the first place.

 

[Slyboogy]

Hm....don't know how I feel.

On one hand he had the talent and the speed but 97% of the time was a let down. Which means he should have been gone.

But then he always found a way to make the race entertaining.