Pastor Maldonado

**Pastor Rafael Maldonado Motta** (born March 9, 1985 in Maracay) is a Venezuelan racing driver. His career so far has been in single-seater Formula racing. He is the 2010 GP2 Champion, and a former champion of Italian Formula Renault. He is a former driver for the Williams Formula One team. His first F1 race was the  Australian Grand Prix.

### 2003

Maldonado started formula racing in Italy in 2003. He competed in the Italian Formula Renault Championship. He had three podium finishes and one pole position.

### 2004

In 2004, Maldonado ran in both the Italian and European Formula Renault series. He won the Italian championship He had eight wins and six pole positions. In the European championship, he finished in eighth position, with two wins. Maldonado also entered one round of the Formula Renault V6 Eurocup at Spa-Francorchamps.

### 2005

In 2005, Maldonado made four starts in the Italian F3000 Championship. He won one race and finish in ninth place. He also entered nine races (and made seven starts) in the Spanish-based World Series by Renault (WSR). Maldonado only started seven of the races, and his best finish was seventh place.

Maldonado received a four-race ban in the WSR for dangerous driving. He did not slow down at the scene of an accident at Monaco. There were warning flags displayed. He hit and seriously injured a marshal.

### 2006

Maldonado received a full-time drive in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series with Draco Racing in 2006. He was finished in third place. He won three race and finished on the podium six other times. Maldonado had five pole positions.

### GP2 Series

Maldonado signed a contract to drive in GP2 for Trident Racing in 2007. He first win came in his fourth race in the series at Monaco. He missed the final four rounds of the season after breaking a collarbone during training. He finished the season outside the top 10. He has moved to the Piquet Sports team for the 2008 season. He finished in fifth place in the drivers' championship.

Maldonado signed to drive for the ART Grand Prix team for the 2009 season. As part of the deal, he also joined the team for three rounds of the 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series season. He finished sixth overall, helping ART to the teams title.

Maldonado drove for the Rapax Team in the 2010 season. He won the Championship that year.

### Formula One

In November 2004, Maldonado was given a test with the Minardi Formula One team. Maldonado was considered for the Campos Meta team (now Hispania Racing) in . Karun Chandhok got the drive with HRT.

After Williams said that Nico Hülkenberg had been dropped from the team's 2011 line-up, Maldonado was announced as his replacement on December 1. Maldonado also brings sponsorship from the Venezuelan government to Williams. This is through the state-owned PDVSA oil company.

## Politics

Maldonado has strong feelings about politics and talks about them openly. This is not very common in the racing world. He says he is a socialist and a friend of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez.

### Career summary

|Season|Series|Team|Races|Wins|Poles|F/Laps|Podiums|Points|Position|||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align=left|GP2 Series|align=left|Trident Racing|12|1|1|0|2|25|11th||
|align=left|GP2 Series|align=left|Piquet Sports|20|1|2|4|6|60|5th||
|align=left|GP2 Asia Series|align=left|ART Grand Prix|5|0|0|0|1|7|15th||
|align=left|GP2 Series|align=left|ART Grand Prix|19|2|0|0|2|36|6th||
|align=left|GP2 Series|align=left|Rapax Team|19|6|0|5|8|87|style="background-color:#fbffbf"|**1st**|
|align=left|Formula One|align=left|AT&T Williams|11|0|0|0|0|0*|21st*||
 Season in progress.

### Complete GP2 Series results

(key) (Races in **bold** indicate pole position) (Races in _italics_ indicate fastest lap)
|Year|Entrant|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13|14|15|16|17|18|19|20|21|DC|Points|||||||||||||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|2007|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|style="background:#FFFFFF;"|BHR FEA|style="background:#cfcfff;"|BHR SPR|style="background:#efcfff;"|CAT FEA|style="background:#cfcfff;"|CAT SPR|style="background:#ffffbf;"|**MON FEA**|style="background:#cfcfff;"|MAG FEA|style="background:#cfcfff;"|MAG SPR|style="background:#dfffdf;"|SIL FEA|style="background:#dfdfdf;"|SIL SPR|style="background:#dfffdf;"|HOC FEA|style="background:#dfffdf;"|HOC SPR|style="background:#efcfff;"|HUN FEA|style="background:#efcfff;"|HUN SPR|IST FEA|IST SPR|MNZ FEA|MNZ SPR|SPA FEA|SPA SPR|VAL FEA|VAL SPR||||||||
|2008|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|style="background:#cfcfff;"|**CAT FEA**|style="background:#efcfff;"|CAT SPR|style="background:#efcfff;"|IST FEA|style="background:#efcfff;"|IST SPR|style="background:#dfdfdf;"|**MON FEA**|style="background:#efcfff;"|MON SPR|style="background:#ffdf9f;"|MAG FEA|style="background:#cfcfff;"|MAG SPR|style="background:#efcfff;"|SIL FEA|style="background:#cfcfff;"|SIL SPR|style="background:#dfffdf;"|HOC FEA|style="background:#cfcfff;"|HOC SPR|style="background:#dfffdf;"|_HUN FEA_|style="background:#cfcfff;"|HUN SPR|style="background:#dfdfdf;"|_VAL FEA_|style="background:#efcfff;"|VAL SPR|style="background:#ffdf9f;"|SPA FEA|style="background:#ffffbf;"|_SPA SPR_|style="background:#dfdfdf;"|_MNZ FEA_|style="background:#dfffdf;"|MNZ SPR||
|2009|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|style="background:#dfffdf;"|CAT FEA|style="background:#dfffdf;"|CAT SPR|style="background:#dfffdf;"|MON FEA|style="background:#ffffbf;"|MON SPR|style="background:#dfffdf;"|IST FEA|style="background:#dfffdf;"|IST SPR|style="background:#dfffdf;"|SIL FEA|style="background:#ffffbf;"|_SIL SPR_|style="background:#efcfff;"|NÜR FEA|style="background:#cfcfff;"|NÜR SPR|style="background:#dfffdf;"|HUN FEA|style="background:#efcfff;"|HUN SPR|style="background:#000000; color:white"|<span style="color:white;">VAL FEA</span>|style="background:#cfcfff;"|VAL SPR|style="background:#dfffdf;"|SPA FEA|style="background:#efcfff;"|SPA SPR|style="background:#efcfff;"|MNZ FEA|style="background:#cfcfff;"|MNZ SPR|style="background:#cfcfff;"|ALG FEA|style="background:#cfcfff;"|ALG SPR||
|2010|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|style="background:#dfffdf;"|CAT FEA|style="background:#ffdf9f;"|CAT SPR|style="background:#dfdfdf;"|MON FEA|style="background:#cfcfff;"|MON SPR|style="background:#ffffbf;"|_IST FEA_|style="background:#dfffdf;"|IST SPR|style="background:#ffffbf;"|_VAL FEA_|style="background:#dfffdf;"|_VAL SPR_|style="background:#ffffbf;"|_SIL FEA_|style="background:#dfffdf;"|SIL SPR|style="background:#ffffbf;"|HOC FEA|style="background:#cfcfff;"|HOC SPR|style="background:#ffffbf;"|_HUN FEA_|style="background:#000000; color:white"|<span style="color:white;">HUN SPR</span>|style="background:#ffffbf;"|SPA FEA|style="background:#efcfff;"|SPA SPR|style="background:#efcfff;"|MNZ FEA|style="background:#efcfff;"|MNZ SPR|style="background:#cfcfff;"|YMC FEA|style="background:#cfcfff;"|YMC SPR||

#### Complete GP2 Asia Series results

(key) (Races in **bold** indicate pole position) (Races in _italics_ indicate fastest lap)
|Year|Entrant|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|DC|Points|||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|2008–09||||||||||||||||||||||
|CHN FEA|CHN SPR|style="background:color:#efcfff"|ABU FEA <small>Ret</small>|style="background:color:white"|ABU SPR <small>C</small>|BHR1 FEA <small></small>|BHR1 SPR <small></small>|QAT FEA <small></small>|QAT SPR <small></small>|style="background:color:#dfffdf"|MYS FEA <small>7</small>|style="background:color:#dfdfdf"|MYS SPR <small>2</small>|style="background:color:#efcfff"|BHR2 FEA <small>Ret</small>|style="background:color:#efcfff"|BHR2 SPR <small>Ret</small>|style="background:color:#f3f3f3"|**15th**|style="background:color:#f3f3f3"|**7**|

### Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in **bold** indicate pole position) (Races in _italics_ indicate fastest lap)
|Year|Entrant|Chassis|Engine|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13|14|15|16|17|18|19|20|WDC|Points|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|2011||||||||||||||||||||||||||
||||||||||||BEL|ITA|SIN|JPN|KOR|IND|ABU|BRA||style="background:color:#f3f3f3"|**21st***|style="background:color:#f3f3f3"|**0***|||
 Season in progress.

Driver did not finish the Grand Prix. Driver was classified (ranked) because they finished over 90% of the race.

## Other websites

- Official site
- Pastor Maldonado in Twitter

## Infobox (f1 driver)

- **name**: Pastor Maldonado
- **image**: Pastor Maldonado 2011 Malaysia.jpg
- **caption**: Pastor Maldonado in Malaysia
- **nationality**: Venezuelan
- **races**: 11
- **championships**: 0
- **wins**: 1
- **podiums**: 0
- **points**: 0
- **poles**: 0
- **fastest laps**: 0
- **first race**: Australian Grand Prix