Rather than build on his moments of promise so far Maldonado endured a frustrating final season with Williams in 2013. However, even that day held more drama for the team’s pit garage was engulfed in flames as they celebrated. Maldonado qualified on pole position for the Spanish GP and withstood Alonso’s intense late pressure to score a shock maiden F1 victory. He held it together for one glorious Sunday afternoon to deliver the team its first win in eight years. He was challenging Fernando Alonso for a fine fifth-place in the 2012 Australian GP when he lost control of his Williams FW34-Renault on the final lap – just one of a number of accidents that punctuated his second season with Williams. There were moments of promise – most notably running sixth at Monaco before Lewis Hamilton crashed into him at Ste Devote – but tenth at Spa-Francorchamps provided the only point of Maldonado’s difficult debut campaign. He replaced Hülkenberg at Williams for the 2011 F1 season with his substantial sponsorship fund certainly a factor. #PASTOR MALDONADO DRIVER#Formula 1 was next and Maldonado impressed while testing for both HRT and Williams during the post-season Abu Dhabi young driver tests. Second at Monaco once more, he won the next six feature races to secure a deserved championship at the fourth attempt. With Nelson Piquet no longer involved, Maldonado returned to the now renamed Rapax team for his must-win 2010 GP2 campaign and he did not disappoint. However, he crashed too often and while team-mate Nico Hülkenberg won the championship, Maldonado was an overshadowed sixth at the end of the year. #PASTOR MALDONADO CRACK#He moved to the crack ART Grand Prix and won the Monaco and Silverstone sprint races. Now in his third GP2 season, much was expected of Maldonado in 2009. Fifth in the championship, his personal highlight came at Spa-Francorchamps where Maldonado passed Jérôme d’Ambrosio on the last lap to win the sprint race. He repeated that feat at Monaco – coming second in what was the first of six podium finishes. Maldonado joined Piquet Sports for 2008 and began the year from pole position in Spain. He also finished second in the Silverstone sprint race but missed the Hungarian rounds while recovering from breaking his collarbone while cycling. Off the pace during the opening two race weekends, he converted a surprise pole position into another victory at Monte Carlo. With ample sponsorship from state owned Venezuelan oil company PDVSA, he joined Trident Racing for his GP2 debut in 2007. Draco protested unsuccessfully and rather than win another title, Maldonado was eventually relegated to third in the final points. He won another three rounds on the road although his car failed scrutineering after winning at Misano. It was a far more satisfying campaign and he returned to winning ways around the streets of the Principality. Maldonado moved to Draco Multiracing USA for the 2006 F.Renault 3.5 season despite having lost the French manufacturer’s backing in the wake of his Monaco incident. Rather than remain inactive during his enforced absence, Maldonado drove a Sighinolfi Autoracing Lola B2/50-Zytek in four Italian Formula 3000 races – winning at Magione. He ignored yellow flags waved at Massenet during Thursday practice and struck a marshal who was tending to Patrick Pilet’s crashed car. However, that proved to be a controversial campaign and he was banned for four race weekends following an incident at Monaco. Now a Renault junior driver, the Venezuelan joined DAMS for the 2005 Formula Renault 3.5 season. 2004 ended with Maldonado testing a Minardi PS04B-Cosworth at Misano. He also won the opening two rounds of that year’s Eurocup at Monza but faded to eighth overall. #PASTOR MALDONADO SERIES#He won the winter series at the end of the year and remained with the team to add the Italian title a year later – winning eight times in a field that included Kamui Kobayashi, Luca Filippi and Davide Valsecchi. The son of an amateur racing driver, Maldonado graduated from karts to Italian Formula Renault 2.0 in 2003 with Cram Motorsport. Having lost his place on the Formula 1 grid, Maldonado eventually returned in the World Endurance Championship.Įarly racing career – success and controversy That surprising if fully deserved Barcelona victory apart, much of his single-seater career was marred by controversy and contact with others. Pastor Maldonado is a former GP2 Series champion who also won the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix.
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