When you think of the Grand Prix de Monaco you think of some of the greats in Formula 1. However, at least in recent memory, I think of 2012 and a certain Venezuelan Williams driver Pastor Maldonado.
13 days prior to the 2012 Monaco GP Maldonado made his mark in Formula 1 after inheriting pole position from Lewis Hamilton at the Spanish Grand Prix and holding his own against an attacking Fernando Alonso, going on to win his first ever Grand Prix. Happy times. Well, not for long. Towards the end of the Final Practice session on that Thursday, Maldonado appeared to be on a slow down lap, allowing Mexican Sauber driver Sergio Perez through at Portier before suddenly, the red mist descended, and he turned in on the young Mexican just before the entry to the tunnel
Perez was quick on the radio to tell his team the soon to be common phrase, “Maldonado is crazy”. Poor old Pastor’s session then went from bad to worse as he misjudged his entry into Casino Square and found himself in the barrier with the car then on a crane back to the garage. Out of the session and faced with what was to be a 10 place grid penalty for the Venezuelan, the prospect of back to back wins was out of the question. To add insult to injury he was then forced to take a further five place grid penalty for a change in gear box as the damage which left him without a left-rear wheel and severely damaged body work the day before, which haunted him into race day.
Race day came, and was short lived. Starting from the back of the grid he was caught unaware of a sideways Romain Grosjean and a leaping Kamui Kobayashi and collided into the back of HRT driver Pedro de la Rosa by braking too late, terminally damaging both cars with Pastor retiring a lap later.
The rest of the season proved to be much the same. However, the general consensus is that Maldonado is a very nice guy but when the red midst descends, he becomes reckless. For his and Lotus’s sake this weekend, I hope he has a successful race and after encouraging signs from the in-season Barcelona test, it looks promising for Pastor, but I wouldn’t want to place a bet on him winning just yet…
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