Criticism now part of Lotus F1 driver Pastor Maldonado's life

Criticism now part of Maldonado's life - AUTOSPORT

Lotus driver Pastor Maldonado has come to accept that being heavily criticised is now a part of his life in Formula 1.

Since making his F1 debut with Williams in 2011, the Venezuelan has been the target for sideswipes and jokes, primarily due to the number of incidents in which he has been involved.

Of the 86 races Maldonado has started, he has finished in the points on just 10 occasions, led by his shock victory in the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix.

Conversely, the last race in Hungary provided another low, as he served three penalties during the race for separate incidents.

Maldonado insists, however, when people judge him harshly it is water off a duck's back, telling AUTOSPORT: "It doesn't bother me at all.

"I've always been heavily criticised by many people, but it's part of my job and part of my life.

"This is a very intensive job and I just always try to do my best for the people I work with.

"Whether that's in the factory or the simulator, the engineers and the people who need to like me, the team, like me.

"If you ask me what I would prefer, I prefer people talk good about me, which is normal, but what they say does not affect me.

"Maybe it motivates me, who knows?"

Lotus expecting "great things" from Maldonado after break

With such a gulf between the highs and lows, it could be argued Maldonado should have achieved far more in F1 to date, while many

Many would suggest it is only the support he has received from Venezuela's state-owned oil and gas company, PDVSA, which has kept him in a job.

Asked whether he personally expected more, Maldonado replied: "Everyone is always expecting more.

"I expect to win all my races, although you need to realise it is almost impossible, except when I showed it is possible [in Spain in 2012] without the best car on the track.

"Since then it has been very difficult to win, which you have to accept, and all you can do is deliver your best."

Explaining the difficulties, Maldonado added: "You are always learning. You never stop, because the car and development is always changing.

"The tyres are always different, tracks are always different, structure is always different, so you can't do on one weekend what you did on the previous weekend because everything changes.

"Every weekend you more or less start from zero, but for sure you are trying to improve you base line, so you build through the season and improve every race."

 

Fixed the title: Criticism now part of Lotus F1 driver Pastor Crashonado's life

 

Wow just 10 points finishes? I know he's been crashing quite often but this is surprising.

 

It's the media fault ! Guess he doesn't know in free market economy's we have things called tvs or now HDTV. In the workers paradise of Venezuela I guess he's fans and supporters only get party newspapers

 

Was that wrong if so I will take the punishment I'm apologize to people in a worker's paradise . I Have COME TO CHEW BUBBLE GUN AND KICK BUTT AND I'M ALL OUT OF BUBBLE GUM

 

Every time there's a yellow flag that the TV cameras didn't catch live, my wife goes: "What's Maldonado done now?"

It provides so much mirth when we then see the replay and find out it actually was him causing it somehow. He seems a likeable guy, but does incur more incidents than is average.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

What was it Sniff Petrol posted a couple of years ago about the British Grand Prix? Something like "The A44 (?) south of Silverstone is expected to be closed for an extended period on the Monday following the race, as officials work to clear the wreckage of Maldonado's rental car." Or something along those lines.

If he didn't crash as often as he does, and in such outlandish boneheaded ways, he wouldn't be criticized so much.

I mean, everyone started to let up on Grosjean once he gave his head a shake, grew up, and stopped driving like an idiot.

 

Yes, Maldonado had crashes, but he also won a GP.

Neither Ericson, Nasr, Stevens, Mehrim Bottas, Perez, Hulkenberg, Sainz, Verstapen, or Grosjean have achieved that yet.

Nor some who have departed F1 ike De Resta, Petrov, Magnussen, and a few others ...

So, I keep an open mind before criticising his driving.

 

He won at the Spanish GP from pole. 99% of the time you win Spain from pole. He didn't even earn pole it was given to him. He did nothing in that race to show he was a good driver besides not crash.

Bruno Senna made the points 11 times vs Maldo 10 times and Senna hasn't been in F1 for almost 3 years.

Just look at his results besides the fluke win his best result is 5th. He has had more "did not finish but classified" results than podiums. He has been wasting a seat in F1 long enough it's time to go.
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That guy is an utter joke.

 

Not that I want to defend him but let's remember that he was the 2010 GP2 champion:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_GP2_Series_season#Drivers.27_Championship

 

Exactly.

 

Hamilton was disqualified after qualifs. Maldonano fully deserved the pole.

In the race, Maldonado resisted attacks from Alonso and Raikkonen, and fully deserved the win too.

Give credit when it is due, instead of pusuing a witch hunt.

 

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His first and only podium was 73 races ago.

He's clearly a rising talent.

 

Pastor has been a member of the socialist "club". Because of that he has benefitted greatly. Likely, far beyond what many of us will ever realize. To bring into focus the extent that the workers paradise of Venezuela can bestow on the members of the club, read this.

"The daughter of Hugo Chavez, the former president who once declared ‘being rich is bad,’ may be the wealthiest woman in Venezuela, according to evidence reportedly in the hands of Venezuelan media outlets.

"Maria Gabriela Chavez, 35, the late president’s second-oldest daughter, holds assets in American and Andorran banks totaling almost $4.2billion, Diario las Americas reports.

"Alejandro Andrade, who served as Venezuela’s treasury minister from 2007 to 2010 and was reportedly a close associate of Chavez, was discovered to have $11.2 billion in his name sitting in HSBC accounts in Switzerland, according to documents leaked by whistleblower Hervé Falciani."

$11.2 billion, not bad for four years worth of theft. Venezuela is the most corrupt country in Latin America and they still can steal enough of the peasants' money to support Crash Pastor. But that is what socialism is all about: great wealth and power for a handful, poverty and humiliation for the vast majority.

 

Holy moly. If true, that's close to $8M/day for four years if my calculator has not failed me. You could buy a couple of 250 GTO's with just a few weeks of thievery!
T

 

You could by every GTO ever built and retire to Monaco! Calculator or not. Not even my old pal Harlan Crow is in that league.

 

Harlan Crow, the famous Dallas real estate tycoon - he of the in(famous) 77 car garage? That's a good pal to have!
T

 

UT, '72