Pastor Maldonado will take a 10 place grid penalty into this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix after Lotus elected to use a sixth internal combustion engine in his E22. Drivers are only permitted to use five parts of any of the six components which make of the Power Unit and if they exceed the limit they will drop 10 places from wherever they qualify, a situation already felt by Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat. If Maldonado qualifies lower than 12th, the remainder of his grid drop will […]

Pastor Maldonado accepted blame for crashing out of Friday's second practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix - but revealed that he wasn't even pushing at the time of the accident. Maldonado lost control of his Lotus E22 at turn 10 and suffered an impact with the wall which damage the front right corner of his car. The crash ended his session prematurely and believes that the loss of performance on the Option tyres contributed to his problems. "I just lost the car," Maldonado is […]

Lotus deputy team principal Federico Gastaldi praised the efforts of Pastor Maldonado during the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Lotus struggled for pace at Monza and while Maldonado came home in a lowly 14th place, Gastaldi was quick to heap praise on his Venezuelan charge. "We saw a very strong race today from Pastor who didn’t put a foot wrong and extracted the maximum from our current package," he said. "14th isn’t where we want to finish but today’s race did give us some signs […]

Lotus suffered its third double retirement of the season as both Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado were unable to reach the chequered flag at the Belgian Grand Prix. Grosjean hit Jules Bianchi at the start and his performance was consequently compromised by debris, while Maldonado suffered an early engine failure in the E22. "The car was pretty good; the pace was much better than expected, which is encouraging," said Grosjean. "Unfortunately the race was compromised early on, we had to change the nose on the […]

Pastor Maldonado says he is confident of fighting for the top 10 at the Belgian Grand Prix, despite crashing out of second practice during the opening stages. Maldonado lost control of his Lotus E22 exiting Turn 9 and sustained heavy damage to the Lotus E22, truncating his session early on. Maldonado was taken to the medical centre but was quickly released without any issues. "I went for a quick check-up, they said I was okay and I went straight to the garage," he said. "For […]

Lotus duo Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado remain confident that they can challenge for points on a consistent basis across the second half of the 2014 Formula 1 campaign. Lotus has endured a trying season, with Grosjean's eighth place finishes in Spain and Monaco accounting for all of their points this year. Nonetheless, both drivers are sure that they can fix the issues plaguing the E22 and return to the top 10 positions. "Since Monaco we have had a succession of really hard races where […]

Pastor Maldonado is sure that he can enjoy a successful relationship with Lotus, despite a troubled first half of 2014. Maldonado joined Lotus from Williams at the start of the year but has yet to score a point. Lotus confirmed during the German Grand Prix weekend that Maldonado will stay on with the team in 2015 and the Venezuelan is confident that matters will improve. "I joined Lotus on a multi-year deal, but there is always talk and gossip in Formula 1 about drivers and […]

Lotus has confirmed that Pastor Maldonado will remain with the team in 2015. Maldonado joined from Williams at the start of the year and has yet to score a point with his new team. But Team Principal Gerard Lopez confirmed that Maldonado will continue to race for the squad in 2015. "I don’t want to give too much away, but as it’s half way through the season I can confirm 50% of our driver line-up for 2015 as Pastor is with us for next year," […]

Lotus duo Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado believe that the team has been negatively affected by the removal of the Front and Rear Interconnected Supension System [FRIC]. With teams unable to reach a deal over FRIC, it was decided that the system would be removed from cars for this weekend's German Grand Prix. While rival drivers do not believe that the changes have made a difference to the pecking order, Grosjean and Maldonado both feel that the E22 has been harmed by its removal. "We’re […]

Pastor Maldonado is looking forward to a major power boost at Hockenheim next weekend. The 2012 Spanish grand prix winner, who chose to race the number '13' this year and beyond, has had a dire campaign since switching from Williams to Lotus over the winter. Along with Sauber and the backmarkers, the Venezuelan is yet to score a solitary point this year as the Enstone based team grapple with poor pace and reliability. But things could be about to get better. Speed Week reports that […]

Esteban Gutierrez has blamed Pastor Maldonado for their collision during Sunday's British Grand Prix. Gutierrez went up the inside of Maldonado at the Vale but the duo made contact, with Maldonado being tipped into the air. Gutierrez continued for a few corners but his damaged C33 spat him into the gravel at Farm. The stewards, however, deemed him to be the responsible party and he will drop three places on the grid in Germany. "I had a good race start," he said. "After the restart […]

Pastor Maldonado has been excluded from qualifying at the British Grand Prix after Lotus was unable to provide a sufficient fuel sample. Maldonado stopped on track during Q2 due to a lack of fuel in his Lotus E22 and as a result, could not provide the mandatory one litre sample to the FIA stewards. Maldonado originally qualified in 15th position, but will now start from 20th place, ahead of the Caterham drivers. "We had a lack of fuel during the second qualifying session which meant […]