Pastor Maldonado F1 driver biography

Pastor Maldonado

Pastor Maldonado made his F1 debut with Williams

Born: 9th March 1985
Birthplace: Maracay, Venezuela
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Pastor Maldonado signed for Williams in 2011 after winning the GP2 championship the previous year.

Maldonado started karting at the age of seven and soon began racing in national competitions. In 1999, aged 14, he moved to Europe to further his racing career.

He continued karting in European series until 2002 while also making his first steps in car racing. He contested various Formula Renault championships, culminating in victory in the Italian championship in 2004, with eight wins.

That earned him his first F1 test for Minardi at Misano at the end of 2004. The following year he joined Renault’s Driver Development Programme and raced in the World Series by Renault.

However he was banned for nine races after he ran into a marshal during practice at Monaco. The marshal was attending to another driver who had spun when Maldonado arrived on the scene and hit them both. The marshal suffered a broken back.

Maldonado returned to the series the following year and finished third in the championship for Draco. He moved into GP2 with Trident in 2007 and won the Monaco round.

A switch to Piquet Sports in 2008 saw him finish fifth in the championship. In 2009 he joined top team ART along with rookie Nico Hulkenberg. Although he won twice, including the Monaco sprint race, he ended the year sixth while Hülkenberg won the title.

Maldonado stayed in GP2 for 2010 and returned to Piquet’s team, now renamed Rapax. He put his three years’ experience to good use and set a new record for the series with six consecutive feature race wins.

That secured the title and handed him testing opportunities with Williams and HRT at the end of the year. Following the test Williams signed him to take Hulkenberg’s place in 2011.

Williams

Maldonado scored his first point in the Belgian Grand Prix

Driving one of the least competitive cars Williams has ever produced, Maldonado managed to score a single point in his first season. There might have been more at Monaco but for a late tangle with Lewis Hamilton which left him in the barriers.

He compared well against experienced team mate Rubens Barrichello, especially in qualifying, and earned a contract extension for 2012.

2012

Maldonado’s second season got off to a disappointing start when he crashed out of sixth place on the final lap of the Australian Grand Prix while trying to pass Fernando Alonso. But the revised, Renault-engined car had already shown more potential than its predecessor.

Four races later in Spain the pair shared the front row of the grid, Maldonado having inherited pole position from a penalised Hamilton. Alonso beat him to the first corner, but Maldonado jumped ahead through the pit stops and withstood fierce pressure from the Ferrari driver to clinch his first victory.