Pastor Maldonado

- Published on Dec 14th, 2010 by The Badger

Life Before F1
Pastor first tested an F1 car way back in 2004 but didn't sit in one again until the 2010 young driver test. Between then he did four years of GP2 - the last of which he won convincingly - as well as World Series by Renault. He could well have won this in 2006 but was handed a 15-point deduction for a technical infringement following a race victory in Italy and ended the year third. The previous year he embarrassed himself - and injured a marshall - by arriving too quickly at the scene of an accident and causing an even bigger shunt. Despite that convincing GP2 triumph in 2010 he still needs to shake the wildman tag.

F1 Career
Maldonado joins Williams in 2011 with a lot of pressure on his shoulders. For one he carries the weight of his homeland, Venezuela, who have waited a full 27-years for a Formula One driver. Add to that the fact that many fans are dubious about how he got the seat over the impressive Nico Hulkenberg and the difficulty of competing with a team-mate as experienced as Rubens Barrichello and you have a recipe for a very demanding rookie season. Good luck, Pastor.