111 Facts About Pastor Maldonado

1.

Pastor Rafael Maldonado Motta is a Venezuelan professional racing driver, who competed in Formula One for the Williams and Lotus teams and as a Pirelli test driver until 2017.

2.

Pastor Maldonado became the first Venezuelan to win a Formula One Grand Prix when he won the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix for Williams, from his first and only pole position.

3.

Pastor Maldonado showed an early interest in racing, preferring to watch his uncles driving their YMCA go-karts.

4.

When Pastor Maldonado was four years old, he started competing in BMX racing and won a national championship.

5.

Pastor Maldonado was invited to Kartodromo Carmencita Hernandez in 1992 and was impressed with the karts that were running on the track.

6.

Pastor Maldonado competed in the Italian Formula Renault Championship with Cram Competition, and was classified seventh in the drivers' championship.

7.

In 2004, Pastor Maldonado ran a dual programme in Italian and Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup with Cram Competition.

8.

Pastor Maldonado won the Italian title, with eight wins and six pole positions from seventeen starts.

9.

Pastor Maldonado found the time to enter one round of the now defunct Formula Renault V6 Eurocup at Spa-Francorchamps, with a best finish of fifth place.

10.

In November 2004, Pastor Maldonado was given an opportunity to test with the Minardi Formula One team at Misano in Italy.

11.

In 2005, Pastor Maldonado progressed out of Formula Renault, but did not get the opportunity to complete a full season in any one series.

12.

Pastor Maldonado made four starts in the Italian F3000 Championship with Sighinolfi Auto Racing, in which one race win at the Autodromo dell'Umbria was enough to finish ninth overall.

13.

Pastor Maldonado entered nine races in the Spanish-based World Series by Renault, with a best finish of seventh.

14.

Pastor Maldonado secured a full-time drive in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series with Draco Racing in 2006.

15.

Pastor Maldonado was classified third overall, with three race wins, six further podium finishes, and five pole positions.

16.

Pastor Maldonado took his first victory in only his fourth race in the series with a commanding win at Monaco.

17.

Pastor Maldonado moved to the Piquet Sports team for 2008, his second year in the series.

18.

Pastor Maldonado started at the back of the grid for the Hungary feature race, but he moved up to finish fifth after staying out for longer than any other driver, and setting a succession of quick laps on these worn tyres.

19.

Pastor Maldonado signed to drive for the ART Grand Prix team during the 2009 season.

20.

Pastor Maldonado was often overshadowed by team-mate and 2009 champion Nico Hulkenberg, but Pastor Maldonado still finished sixth overall, helping ART to the teams title.

21.

Pastor Maldonado competed in the first round of the 2009 Euroseries 3000 season at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve for Teamcraft Motorsport to gain experience of the track for the GP2 season finale.

22.

Pastor Maldonado won the first race, having started from second position.

23.

Pastor Maldonado drove for the Rapax Team in the 2010 GP2 Series alongside Luiz Razia.

24.

Pastor Maldonado clinched the Championship in the penultimate event at Monza, Maldonado won six consecutive feature races on his way to winning the title, which took him to a total of ten race victories in GP2, which is a series record.

25.

Pastor Maldonado finished sixteen points ahead of Barwa Addax's Sergio Perez.

26.

Pastor Maldonado was a target for a Campos Meta seat in 2010.

27.

Towards the end of the 2010 season, Pastor Maldonado was linked to the Williams team for 2011, replacing former GP2 team-mate Nico Hulkenberg alongside Rubens Barrichello.

28.

Pastor Maldonado took part in the end-of-season young driver test at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, driving for Williams and Hispania Racing, the rebranded Campos team.

29.

On 15 November, Williams confirmed that Hulkenberg had been dropped from the team's 2011 line-up, and Pastor Maldonado was duly announced as his replacement on 1 December.

30.

Pastor Maldonado retired from his first race, the Australian Grand Prix, due to transmission problems.

31.

Pastor Maldonado recorded his first finish in China, in eighteenth place.

32.

Pastor Maldonado made it into Q3 again in Monaco, qualifying eighth, and in the race was lying sixth with five laps remaining, when he collided with Lewis Hamilton, taking him out of the race.

33.

Pastor Maldonado then spun out of a very wet race in Canada.

34.

Pastor Maldonado then continued to have impressive qualifying pace with poor race pace at Britain, Germany, and Hungary, including a drive-through penalty at the latter for speeding in the pit lane.

35.

At the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa in qualifying, Pastor Maldonado was involved in an incident with Lewis Hamilton on an in-lap after Hamilton squeezed by him when both were on a hot lap.

36.

Pastor Maldonado appeared to swipe across Hamilton as they headed down to Eau Rouge.

37.

Pastor Maldonado received a five-place grid penalty for his actions and Hamilton a reprimand.

38.

Pastor Maldonado did not score any more points for the rest of the season, nor did he reach Q3 for the rest of the season.

39.

Pastor Maldonado finished nineteenth in the Drivers' Championship and on 1 December 2011, it was confirmed that he would be retained by Williams for the 2012 season.

40.

Pastor Maldonado began the 2012 season alongside Brazil's Bruno Senna, for Williams.

41.

Pastor Maldonado started the season with promising pace, qualifying eighth for the Australian Grand Prix.

42.

Pastor Maldonado scored his first points of the season by finishing eighth in China.

43.

Pastor Maldonado was later promoted to his first pole position in his Formula One career after Hamilton was excluded from the results of qualifying, due to having insufficient fuel in his car.

44.

Pastor Maldonado was beaten to the first corner by Fernando Alonso, but regained the lead after the second round of pit stops.

45.

Pastor Maldonado held his lead after the third pit-stop phase, and held off Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen to win, becoming the first Venezuelan driver to finish on a Grand Prix podium in the process.

46.

Pastor Maldonado retired due to an accident at the start of the race, when he ran into the back of Pedro de la Rosa's HRT who retired with rear wing damage.

47.

Pastor Maldonado finished the qualifying session 17th and started the race from 22nd position after a five-place grid penalty after he was forced to change his gearbox due to damage suffered in the crash.

48.

Pastor Maldonado made good progress in the first stint, running as high as tenth mid-race, however after his pitstop he dropped back to seventeenth and finished the race in thirteenth place.

49.

Pastor Maldonado then passed several drivers including Red Bull's Mark Webber and was running fourth in the closing stages of the race.

50.

Pastor Maldonado was able to continue and finished tenth with a broken front wing; Hamilton retired after he crashed into the tyre wall.

51.

Pastor Maldonado was involved in a collision with Sergio Perez, which dropped him to last while Perez retired on the spot.

52.

Pastor Maldonado eventually finished sixteenth, a lap down on winner Mark Webber.

53.

Pastor Maldonado received a drive-through penalty for "causing an avoidable collision" in an overtaking move on Force India's Paul di Resta for twelfth; he dropped behind di Resta after the penalty and finished thirteenth.

54.

Pastor Maldonado was eleventh in the World Championship on 29 points as Formula One entered a five-week summer break, with his only points finishes coming from his win in Spain and eighth in China.

55.

At the Belgian Grand Prix Pastor Maldonado received a further three penalties.

56.

Pastor Maldonado was demoted from third on the grid to sixth for impeding Nico Hulkenberg in Q1.

57.

Pastor Maldonado then jumped the start of the race, and was deemed to cause a collision with Marussia's Timo Glock, resulting in two separate 5-place grid penalties, so was demoted by 10 places in Monza.

58.

Pastor Maldonado started the race in 22nd and finished in 11th, just 0.5 seconds behind Senna, who finished in the final points-paying position.

59.

Williams' form took a turn for the worse in Korea and Pastor Maldonado finished in 14th place after qualifying 15th.

60.

Pastor Maldonado managed to get into Q3 in India, but a mistake on his final attempt left him 9th on the grid.

61.

Pastor Maldonado's race was disappointing as he got his tyre punctured by Kobayashi after having passed the Sauber driver.

62.

Pastor Maldonado returned to the sharp end of the grid in Abu Dhabi where he qualified fourth, which became third as Vettel was excluded from qualifying due to having insufficient fuel in his car.

63.

Pastor Maldonado kept third place at the start and was running at the same pace as cars around him until his KERS unit failed after the first safety car period of the race.

64.

Pastor Maldonado finished the season with a ninth place from ninth on the grid in the USA and a DNF after a second lap crash from sixteenth from the grid after a ten place penalty for a third reprimand after missing a weighbridge check in Brazil, as he finished fifteenth in the Championship on 45 points, the lowest Championship standing for a driver who won a race during an F1 season.

65.

Pastor Maldonado received 14 penalties throughout the season, five ahead of Sergio Perez and Michael Schumacher, Pastor Maldonado's grid penalties for both driving offences and gearbox changes totaled to 38 grid places, 1.8 per race.

66.

On 28 November 2012, Pastor Maldonado was retained by Williams for the 2013 season, where he was partnered by Finnish rookie Valtteri Bottas.

67.

At the start of the season Pastor Maldonado commented that the new FW35 chassis was a step back towards where the team were in 2011.

68.

Pastor Maldonado failed to make it out of the first qualifying session at the first race, the Australian Grand Prix, and qualified in 17th position, one place behind Bottas.

69.

Pastor Maldonado spun out in the race after 24 laps and consequently retired.

70.

At the following round in Malaysia, Pastor Maldonado did make the second qualifying session but was caught out by the rain meaning he failed to set a time and started the race 16th.

71.

On 29 November 2013, Pastor Maldonado was signed by the Lotus F1 team, to partner Romain Grosjean in 2014.

72.

Pastor Maldonado drove with number 13, which was barely used in Formula One before.

73.

Pastor Maldonado's engineer was Mark Slade, who previously engineered for Kimi Raikkonen.

74.

At the Bahrain Grand Prix, Pastor Maldonado collided with Esteban Gutierrez after making a pit stop, causing Gutierrez's car to roll.

75.

For causing the incident, Pastor Maldonado was given a ten-second stop-go penalty during the race, and after the race, three points on his FIA Super Licence, and a five-place grid penalty for the Chinese Grand Prix.

76.

At the Chinese Grand Prix, Pastor Maldonado crashed into a wall in the pit lane during free practice.

77.

At the Spanish Grand Prix Pastor Maldonado crashed into the wall in the first part of qualifying.

78.

Pastor Maldonado was given a point on his FIA Super Licence after the race, his fourth of the season.

79.

At Silverstone Pastor Maldonado again collided with Esteban Gutierrez, launching his car spectacularly into the air although he was able to finish the race.

80.

In Hungary Pastor Maldonado lost control of his Lotus while heading to the grid, and in the race he crashed in to Jules Bianchi when attempting an overtake.

81.

At Spa-Francorchamps, Pastor Maldonado crashed during the second free practice session; the force of the impact required Pastor Maldonado to have a precautionary check-up at the circuit's medical centre.

82.

At the Singapore Grand Prix, Pastor Maldonado crashed during the second free practice session, causing a red flag.

83.

Pastor Maldonado finished the season 16th in the Drivers' Championship.

84.

Pastor Maldonado continued to drive for Lotus in the 2015 season.

85.

At the Australian Grand Prix, Pastor Maldonado was hit by Felipe Nasr and crashed out of the race at the second corner of the first lap after he overtook 3 cars at the start and was in 6th position.

86.

At the Malaysian Grand Prix, Pastor Maldonado's car suffered a puncture after he was hit by Valtteri Bottas, and he was later given a 10-second time penalty for speeding behind the safety car.

87.

Pastor Maldonado accrued three penalty points on his licence for the infringement, taking his tally to eight within the previous year.

88.

At the Chinese Grand Prix, Pastor Maldonado suffered a brake issue that caused him to go off-track when entering the pits, and had to be recovered by the marshals.

89.

On lap 49, Pastor Maldonado was hit by Jenson Button in a braking zone and spun; Pastor Maldonado was later forced to retire.

90.

At the start of the Bahrain Grand Prix, Pastor Maldonado parked his car in the wrong grid slot, and accordingly, was given a 5-second time penalty.

91.

Pastor Maldonado was later penalised for his role in the incident.

92.

Pastor Maldonado was among numerous others that were penalised for speeding in the pit lane, and overtaking a Manor car under neutralised safety car conditions.

93.

At the next race, Monza, Pastor Maldonado tried to avoid the chaos in the first chicane but hit Hulkenberg damaging the suspension, forcing Pastor Maldonado to retire.

94.

At the Singapore Grand Prix, Pastor Maldonado ran off track, and when he rejoined he and Button collided.

95.

The diffuser of Pastor Maldonado's car was damaged in the incident.

96.

In Japan, Pastor Maldonado started from outside the top 10, but got up to seventh immediately after the start.

97.

Pastor Maldonado had made up six positions during the race to finish in eighth place, which became seventh as Raikkonen was penalised for causing an accident on the last lap.

98.

At the Brazilian Grand Prix, Pastor Maldonado ran into the side of Ericsson.

99.

Pastor Maldonado ended the season with 27 points and 14th place in the Drivers' World Championship.

100.

Pastor Maldonado was replaced by former McLaren driver Kevin Magnussen.

101.

Pastor Maldonado became a test driver for Pirelli, testing a GP2 car for 2017, to be able to develop the tires of the season.

102.

Pastor Maldonado had his first tests at the Mugello and Barcelona circuits.

103.

Whilst driving in Formula One, Pastor Maldonado gained 4 penalty points in the 2014 season up to the British Grand Prix, only equalled by Jules Bianchi.

104.

Pastor Maldonado was the most reprimanded Formula One driver in 2012, a clear 5 points ahead of his nearest rival, Michael Schumacher.

105.

In 2013 Pastor Maldonado had 5 driver related reprimands, ranging from speeding in the pit-lane to causing collisions.

106.

Pastor Maldonado negotiated with IndyCar team KV Racing Technology, with no agreement being reached, and the team being sold due to financial difficulties.

107.

Pastor Maldonado competed in the 2019 24 Hours of Daytona in the LMP2 category, with DragonSpeed and alongside Roberto Gonzalez, Sebastian Saavedra and Ryan Cullen.

108.

Pastor Maldonado is an outspoken political figure, which is rare in the racing world.

109.

Pastor Maldonado considers himself a socialist and was a friend of the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.

110.

Pastor Maldonado was one of the guards of honour at Chavez's funeral.

111.

Pastor Maldonado married Venezuelan journalist Gabriela Tarkanyi on 15 December 2012, in Canaima, Venezuela.