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Pastor Rafael Maldonado Motta (born 9 March 1985 in Maracay, Venezuela) is a Formula One driver who formerly drove for Lotus alongside Romain Grosjean. Maldonado made his F1 debut at the 2011 Australian Grand Prix driving for Williams, becoming the first Venezuelan driver in Formula One since Johnny Cecotto in 1984.

At the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix, four weeks after the 70th birthday of team boss, Sir Frank Williams, Maldonado secured a surprising victory from pole position. The win was Maldonado's first ever, and Williams' first win since the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix.

After a disappointing 2013 season in which the Venezuelan scored only a single point, he joined Romain Grosjean at Lotus for 2014, with his supposed permanent car number being #3, but later switched to #13, breaking Formula One tradition, and was only the third ever Formula One driver to use number 13, after Moises Solana in 1963 and Divina Galica in 1976. He became the first Formula One driver to score with the number at the 2014 United States Grand Prix.

Formula 1 Career[]

Williams[]

2011[]

In December 2010, it was announced that Maldonado would drive for the Williams team in 2011 alongside Rubens Barrichello, replacing Nico Hülkenberg, who was moving to Force India as a test driver. Whilst Maldonado was making his debut, Barrichello was the most experienced driver and in his 19th season of Formula One.

In his first race at Australia, Maldonado was the first retirement all year because of transmission problems. He also retired in Malaysia when an engine failure ended his race. China saw his first classified finish, 18th in the race. In Turkey, Maldonado finished 17th. He finished in a much better position in Spain, in 15th.

In Monaco, Maldonado was running in sixth place with five laps remaining, and on course for his first points, when Lewis Hamilton took him out of the race at the Sainte Dévote corner. Maldonado was still classified 18th in the standings, and teammate Barrichello finished 9th, giving the Williams team their first points of the season, however a potential double-points finish for the Wantage-based team was prevented. This marked the start of a rivalry between Hamilton and Maldonado.

In Canada, Maldonado spun out of the race, forcing him to retire. At Valencia, Maldonado still failed to score, finishing 18th, as his streak of bad results continued. Maldonado scored the first point of his career in the Belgian GP, finishing tenth. However, this proved to be the only point in his debut season.

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2012[]

Maldonado's 2012 season looked very promising following strong races in Melbourne and Sepang. In Australia, he had been running in the points following a good showing in qualifying, placing him 8th on the grid. However, after good battles over the lesser points places, Maldonado lost control and crashed on the final lap while fighting for 5th.

In Malaysia, Pastor's pace was good again in treacherous conditions. Having qualifying 11th, Maldonado found himself in contention for a place in the top ten. Unfortunately, his luck failed him again, and he was forced to retire on the penultimate lap with engine failure. He had been running 10th.

Maldonado's luck changed for the better in China, where another good showing saw him bring home his first points finish of the season. He finished 8th, scoring 4 World Championship points.

Bahrain was an unfortunate race during which Maldonado faced a grid penalty, setting him back to 21st on the grid. Following a good start at which he gained 5 places, Maldonado found himself battling the likes of Sergio Pérez and Paul di Resta for the midfield places. Never reached a top ten place before retiring on the 25th lap due to a puncture.

Williams then went to Spain celebrating the 70th birthday of team boss Sir Frank Williams. They also brought a lot of unexpected performance to the event, looking very strong in practice. In qualifying, team-mate Senna struggled and failed to make it past Q1. Maldonado, on the other hand was outstanding, setting the fastest time in Q2, and being beaten only by Lewis Hamilton in Q3. Maldonado was delighted at second place in qualifying, and his happiness was amplified a few hours later when Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from qualifying as he had stopped on track on his in-lap,[1] promoting Maldonado to his first ever F1 Pole position. In the race, Maldonado put on an impressive display, fighting off Fernando Alonso for most of the race, to claim his maiden race victory, Williams' first in more than 7 years.

2013[]

In 2013, Maldonado was beaten by his new team-mate Valtteri Bottas in the standings. While he finished 10th in Hungary and scored his sole point of the year. Bottas went two better and finished 8th in the United States, scoring four points, his maiden in F1. As neither would score again, Bottas was the better of the Williamses.

Maldonado would leave the team at the end of the year to join Lotus.

2014[]

Maldonado stunned the F1 paddock by announcing that his permanent number for 2014 and beyond would be 13, a number regularly avoided in FIA-sanctioned series.

This made him the first Formula One driver in 38 years to use the number and the third overall.

His season got off to a woeful start in Australia when his ERS failed, preventing him from finishing the race. His Lotus team-mate Romain Grosjean followed suit 14 laps later. Maldonado would also retire in Malaysia.

Then, he became the first driver to finish a Grand Prix with the number 13 when he finished 14th in Bahrain, despite an accident with Esteban Gutiérrez in which the Mexican's car was rolled over which earned Maldonado a 5-place grid penalty for the next race.

Formula One Statistical Overview[]

Formula One Record[]

Year Entrant Team WDC Points WDC Pos. Report
Youth Career
2005 - 2006 Renault Driver Development
Senior Career
2004 Minardi Cosworth Italy Minardi-Ford Cosworth Test Driver
20052009: Did not compete
2010 Spain HRT F1 Team HRT-Cosworth Test Driver
United Kingdom AT&T Williams Williams-Cosworth
2011 United Kingdom AT&T Williams Williams-Cosworth 1 19th Report
2012 United Kingdom Williams F1 Team Williams-Renault 45 15th Report
2013 United Kingdom Williams F1 Team Williams-Renault 1 18th Report
2014 United Kingdom Lotus F1 Team Lotus-Renault 2 16th Report
2015 United Kingdom Lotus F1 Team Lotus-Mercedes 27 14th Report

Statistics[]

Entries 96
Starts 95
Pole Positions 1
Sprint Poles 0
Front Row Starts 2
Race Wins 1
Sprint Wins 0
Podiums 1
Sprint Podiums 0
Fastest Laps 0
Sprint Fastest Laps 0
Points 76
Laps Raced 4505
Distance Raced 23,035 km (14,313 mi)
Races Led 1
Laps Led 37
Distance Led 172 km (107 mi)
Doubles 1

Race Wins[]

Win Number Grand Prix
1 2012 Spanish Grand Prix


Career Results[]

Complete Formula One Results
Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts Pos
2011 Flag of Bahrain Flag of Australia Flag of Malaysia Flag of China Flag of Turkey Flag of Spain Flag of Monaco Flag of Canada Flag of Europe Flag of Great Britain Flag of Germany Flag of Hungary Flag of Belgium Flag of Italy Flag of Singapore Flag of Japan Flag of South Korea Flag of India Flag of the United Arab Emirates Flag of Brazil 1 19th
C Ret Ret 18th 17th 15th 18th
[2]
Ret 18th 14th 14th 16th 10th 11th 11th 14th Ret Ret 14th Ret
2012 Flag of Australia Flag of Malaysia Flag of China Flag of Bahrain Flag of Spain Flag of Monaco Flag of Canada Flag of Europe Flag of Great Britain Flag of Germany Flag of Hungary Flag of Belgium Flag of Italy Flag of Singapore Flag of Japan Flag of South Korea Flag of India Flag of the United Arab Emirates Flag of the United States Flag of Brazil 45 15th
13th
[2]
19th
[2]
8th Ret 1st Ret 13th 12th 16th 15th 13th Ret 11th Ret 8th 14th 16th 5th 9th Ret
2013 Flag of Australia Flag of Malaysia Flag of China Flag of Bahrain Flag of Spain Flag of Monaco Flag of Canada Flag of Great Britain Flag of Germany Flag of Hungary Flag of Belgium Flag of Italy Flag of Singapore Flag of South Korea Flag of Japan Flag of India Flag of the United Arab Emirates Flag of the United States Flag of Brazil 1 18th
Ret Ret 14th 11th 14th Ret 16th 11th 15th 10th 17th 14th 11th 13th 16th 12th 11th 17th 16th
2014 Flag of Australia Flag of Malaysia Flag of Bahrain Flag of China Flag of Spain Flag of Monaco Flag of Canada Flag of Austria Flag of Great Britain Flag of Germany Flag of Hungary Flag of Belgium Flag of Italy Flag of Singapore Flag of Japan Flag of Russia Flag of the United States Flag of Brazil Flag of the United Arab Emirates 2 16th
Ret Ret 14th 14th 15th DNS Ret 12th 17th 12th 13th Ret 14th 12th 16th 18th 9th 12th Ret
2015 Flag of Australia Flag of Malaysia Flag of China Flag of Bahrain Flag of Spain Flag of Monaco Flag of Canada Flag of Austria Flag of Great Britain Flag of Hungary Flag of Belgium Flag of Italy Flag of Singapore Flag of Japan Flag of Russia Flag of the United States Flag of Mexico Flag of Brazil Flag of the United Arab Emirates 27 14th
Ret Ret Ret 15th Ret Ret 7th 7th Ret 14th Ret Ret 12th 8th 7th 8th 11th 10th Ret
Key
Symbol Meaning Symbol Meaning
1st Winner Ret Retired
2nd Podium finish DSQ Disqualified
3rd DNQ Did not qualify
5th Points finish DNPQ Did not pre-qualify
14th Non-points finish TD Test driver
Italics Scored point(s) for Fastest Lap DNS Did not start
18th Classified finish (retired with >90% race distance) NC Non-classified finish (<90% race distance)
4thP Qualified for pole position [+] More Symbols

Notes[]

  1. Article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations:
    Competitors must ensure that a one litre sample of fuel may be taken from the car at any time during the Event. Except in cases of force majeure (accepted as such by the stewards of the meeting), if a sample of fuel is required after a practice session the car concerned must have first been driven back to the pits under its own power. ([1])
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed over 90% of race distance
V T E Venezuela Pastor Maldonado
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V T E Lotus F1 Team logo Lotus F1
Notable Drivers
Finland Kimi Räikkönen · France Romain Grosjean · Venezuela Pastor Maldonado · Belgium Jérôme d'Ambrosio · Finland Heikki Kovalainen
Personnel
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See also
Renault
V T E Teams and Drivers
2011 Teams and Drivers
Teams Red Bull • McLaren • Ferrari • Mercedes • Renault • Williams • Force India • Sauber • Toro Rosso • Lotus • HRT • Virgin
Engines Renault • Mercedes • Ferrari • Cosworth
Race Drivers Vettel • 2 Webber • 3 Hamilton • 4 Button • 5 Alonso • 6 Massa • 7 Schumacher • 8 Rosberg • 9 Heidfeld • 9 Senna • 10 Petrov • 11 Barrichello • 12 Maldonado • 14 Sutil • 15 Di Resta • 16 Kobayashi • 17 Pérez • 17 De la Rosa • 18 Buemi • 19 Alguersuari • 20 Kovalainen • 21 Trulli • 21 Chandhok • 22 Karthikeyan • 22/23 Ricciardo • 23 Liuzzi • 24 Glock • 25 d'Ambrosio
Other Drivers Paffett • Fisichella • Bianchi • Gené • Davidson • Grosjean • Fauzy • Tung • Charouz • Bottas • Hülkenberg • Gutiérrez • Vergne • Razia • Valsecchi • Teixeira • Yamamoto • Wickens • Quaife-Hobbs
2012 Teams and Drivers
Teams Red Bull • McLaren • Ferrari • Mercedes • Lotus • Force India • Sauber • Toro Rosso • Williams • Caterham • HRT • Marussia
Engines Renault • Ferrari • Mercedes • Cosworth
Race Drivers Vettel • 2 Webber • 3 Button • 4 Hamilton • 5 Alonso • 6 Massa • 7 Schumacher • 8 Rosberg • 9 Räikkönen • 10 Grosjean • d'Ambrosio • 11 di Resta • 12 Hülkenberg • 14 Kobayashi • 15 Pérez • 16 Ricciardo • 17 Vergne • 18 Maldonado • 19 Senna • 20 Kovalainen • 21 Petrov • 22 de la Rosa • 23 Karthikeyan • 24 Glock • Pic
Other Drivers Buemi • Paffett • Turvey • Gené • Rigon • Fisichella • Bird • Hartley • Korjus • Bianchi • Daly • Guttiérrez • Bottas • Wolff • van der Garde • Rossi • González • Clos • Ma • Liuzzi • Chilton • de Villota
2013 Teams and Drivers
Teams Red Bull • Ferrari • McLaren • Lotus • Mercedes • Sauber • Force India • Williams • Toro Rosso • Caterham • Marussia
Engines Renault • Ferrari • Mercedes • Cosworth
Race Drivers Vettel • 2 Webber • 3 Alonso • 4 Massa • 5 Button • 6 Pérez • 7 Räikkönen • 7 Kovalainen • 8 Grosjean • 9 Rosberg • 10 Hamilton • 11 Hülkenberg • 12 Gutiérrez • 14 Di Resta • 15 Sutil • 16 Maldonado • 17 Bottas • 18 Vergne • 19 Ricciardo • 20 Pic • 21 Van der Garde • 22 Bianchi • 23 Chilton
Other Drivers Buemi • Félix da Costa • Sainz Jr. • Gené • De la Rosa • Rigon • Paffett • Turvey • Magnussen • d'Ambrosio • Prost • Valsecchi • Hartley • Bird • Frijns • Sato • Sirotkin • Rossiter • Calado • Wolff • Juncadella • Kyvat • Rossi • Ma • Stevens • Razia • González • Ellinas
2014 Teams and Drivers
Teams Caterham • Ferrari • Force India • Lotus • Marussia • McLaren • Mercedes • Red Bull • Sauber • Toro Rosso • Williams
Engines Ferrari • Mercedes • Renault
Drivers Vettel • 3 Ricciardo • 4 Chilton • 6 Rosberg • 7 Räikkönen • 8 Grosjean • 9 Ericsson • 10 Kobayashi • 11 Pérez • 13 Maldonado • 14 Alonso • 17 Bianchi • 19 Massa • 20 Magnussen • 21 Gutiérrez • 22 Button • 25 Vergne • 26 Kvyat • 27 Hülkenberg • 42 Rossi • 44 Hamilton • 45 Lotterer • 46 Stevens • 77 Bottas • 99 Sutil
Other Drivers Buemi • De la Rosa • Félix da Costa • Frijns • Gené • Juncadella • Paffett • Rigon • Sirotkin • Sørensen • Turvey • Van der Garde • Vandoorne • Wolff
2015 Teams and Drivers
Teams Ferrari • Force India • Lotus • Marussia • McLaren • Mercedes • Red Bull • Sauber • Toro Rosso • Williams
Engines Ferrari • Honda • Mercedes • Renault
Drivers Ricciardo • 5 Vettel • 6 Rosberg • 7 Räikkönen • 8 Grosjean • 9 Ericsson • 11 Pérez • 12 Nasr • 13 Maldonado • 14 Alonso • 19 Massa • 20 Magnussen • 21 Gutiérrez • 22 Button • 26 Kvyat • 27 Hülkenberg • 28 Stevens • 33 Verstappen • 44 Hamilton • 53 Rossi • 55 Sainz • 77 Bottas • 98 Merhi
Other Drivers Buemi • Celis • Daruvala • De la Rosa • Félix da Costa • Fong • Gasly • Gutiérrez • Jordá • King • Leimer • Lynn • Marciello • Palmer • Pic • Prost • Rigon • Sutil • Turvey • Vandoorne • Vergne • Wehrlein • Wolff


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