Renault has paid tribute to the outgoing Pastor Maldonado and thanked him for his service to the Enstone operation across the past two years. Maldonado competed for Lotus in 2014 and 2015 and had been initially retained by Renault when it acquired the outfit, though was dropped in favour of Kevin Magnussen, ostensibly due to sponsorship problems. Maldonado, who previously spent three years with Williams, scored 29 points for Lotus and placed 14th overall in last year's championship, as the team finished sixth in the […]

Pastor Maldonado's management says that the Venezuelan is still eager to compete in Formula 1 and believes there is the potential for a return in 2017. Maldonado confirmed on Monday that he will not participate in Formula 1 this year, having raced for Williams and Lotus between 2011 and 2015. Maldonado had originally been retained by Lotus, which was laterly taken over by Renault, but he departed the outfit amid speculation over non-payment from his primary backer PDVSA. His manager, Nicolas Todt, has ruled out […]

Pastor Maldonado has confirmed that he will not compete in Formula 1 in 2016, ending his five-year spell in the sport with Williams and Lotus. Maldonado had been initially retained by Lotus for 2016 prior to Renault's takeover of the outfit, but political and economic unrest in his native Venezuela has led to sponsorship problems, amid speculation that Kevin Magnussen would replace him. Maldonado confirmed on social media on Monday that he will not be present on the grid this season. "As everyone knows in […]

Romain Grosjean hailed an "emotional journey" after he ended his Lotus career with points at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Grosjean finished the race in ninth place to bring down the curtain on a decade-long association with the Enstone operation prior to his switch to the new Haas F1 Team. "It’s been an emotional journey for me and I’m so happy to be able to reward everyone at Enstone with points in my final race for the team," he said, having moved forwards from 18th […]

Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado expressed different emotions after securing 12th and 13th positions on the grid respectively for the Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday. Grosjean believes the Lotus E23 Hybrid performed better than expected at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez while Maldonado was underwhelmed with the feel of the car. "We’re at a very high altitude, at a track with very low grip, requiring good downforce – which we know are not our strongest points - so we weren’t massively confident of our performance heading […]

Pastor Maldonado said he was happy to return to the top 10 positions to conclude a challenging weekend for Lotus in Japan. Lotus was locked out of its hospitality unit at Suzuka and faces a High Court hearing on Monday over alleged unpaid taxes. Maldonado was nonetheless able to secure eighth place - his first points since Austria - to follow home team-mate Romain Grosjean. "It was a good race for us and we really deserved a happy result today after pushing hard all weekend," […]

Lotus deputy team principal Federico Gastaldi says that retaining Pastor Maldonado for 2016 will aid both driver and team in terms of continuity. Lotus confirmed following the Singapore Grand Prix that Maldonado will remain with the outfit for a third campaign, his sixth in the sport, into the 2016 season. "We have an existing multi-year deal with Pastor so it was time to publicly confirm he will be driving with us as part of this deal in 2016," said Gastaldi. "Whilst it is true that […]

Lotus has announced that Pastor Maldonado will remain with the squad for 2016, marking his third year with the outfit. Maldonado made his Formula 1 debut with Williams in 2011, claiming victory in the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix, before switching to Lotus for the 2014 campaign. Maldonado currently occupies 14th in the championship and will now stay with Lotus for a further season. "It’s great that the team can confirm my position as race driver for 2016," he said. "Obviously, there has been a lot […]

Pastor Maldonado was left to lament a lack of grip in his Lotus E23 Hybrid as he was eliminated during the first session of qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix. Maldonado could muster only the 18th best time and was several tenths of a second away from making it into Q2. "It was a tough session and we weren’t really able to get the maximum out of the tyres, which is something we’ve struggled with all weekend," he said. "[A] lack of grip was the […]

Lotus drivers Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado were left to rue separate collisions at at the Rettifilo chicane which put them out of the race at the Italian Grand Prix. Both drivers started inside the top 10 but Grosjean made contact with Felipe Nasr while Maldonado and Nico Hulkenberg collided, leaving the Venezuelan on the side lines for the eighth time this season. "We had the potential of a good race ahead of us," said Grosjean. "I made a strong start but got hit by […]

Lotus technical director Nick Chester says that Pastor Maldonado triggered his own retirement at the Belgian Grand Prix after he went off at the Eau Rouge/Raidillon complex. Maldonado qualified inside the top 10 and was running comfortable in the points-paying positions when he went off-track at the top of the complex on the second lap. Maldonado went across the white kerbs on the inside of the corner and the impact was so severe that it was registered at 17G, sufficient enough to cause a loss […]

He might be known more for accidents than for his good on-track results, the Formula 1 fans might have nicknamed and parodied him more than any other driver but Lotus driver Pastor Maldonado doesn’t appear to be bothered by any of these. He is either a very good actor or he just has a strong self-esteem. His reputation didn’t come out of nowhere. A junior career littered with victories and accidents meant he already had something of a tag. If we look back at his […]