Pastor Maldonado is an easy target for Formula One fans to pick on, especially considering the issues he and his car have had recently. This season has been particularly bad in terms of results and much of that is because Lotus have just not been able to sort their car out: it’s bad on the brakes; has horrible balance and is very unreliable; almost everything it wasn’t at the back end of last season.
So far in 2014 he has had four retirements, one Did Not Start and his best placed finish was a 12th in Austria and Germany. His best qualifying position was a 13th place in Austria, and he sits 19th place in the championship behind the likes of Marcus Ericsson and Jules Bianchi, whereas his teammate Romain Grosjean is in 14th place with eight points after two eighth place finishes in Spain and Monaco.
The one major incident he came under scrutiny for was contact with Esteban Gutierrez in Bahrain which left him turned over but luckily – and credit to F1 safety – absolutely fine. However, Formula One fans still like to pick on him and hassle him for everything that goes bad in the sport; it is of course all jokes by Formula One fans, but they need to remember that Grosjean was exactly the same the year before last and maybe even worse at times. However, Lotus sat him down, got him help and he ended up being the best driver of the second half of 2013 after Sebastian Vettel, who was in a league of his own out in front. I think Lotus are trying to do the same with Maldonado, however I believe a lot of the hard work with Grosjean was done by Eric Boullier, now he’s left they are struggling to continue his good work. The thing fans forget more than anything is that Pastor Maldonado has raw speed, he just needs to apply it more.
May 13th 2012 was the day Formula One fans saw his raw potential and speed. Lewis Hamilton had been sent to the back of the grid, because of a fuel issue which left Maldonado on pole position for the first time in Formula One. He didn’t put a foot wrong for the whole 66 laps and drove fast, sensibly, had to overtake Fernando Alonso of all people and did it easily; he was on fresher tyres at the time, but he still did it and Alonso put up a fight. The key to winning that race for him were his in and out laps; they were incredible and it took a lot to get both those laps and perfect. The only person I can think of who drove through those laps better than him that day is Vettel, as that is one of his biggest strengths.
Winning a GP is never ever easy, no matter what anyone says, F1 fans need to cut him some slack and stop picking on him for every mistake he now makes. If you were to sit down and scrutinise every driver you will find plenty, but people prefer to pick up on his more than anyone.
‘I did some mistakes, I accept that, I always accept my mistakes. For sure, we are looking forward to improve, to deliver my best as always’ -Pastor Maldonado [sic]. He’s a humble person and deserves a lot more respect; he puts his life on the line in car just like the other twenty-one drivers on the grid.
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