Photographer Windows Map F N C E G H J B D A K L M
Photographer Windows Map F N C E G H J B D A K L M
Photographer Windows Map F N C E G H J B D A K L M
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18 Pastor MALDONADO • Venezuela • Williams F1 Team<br />
Born March 9, 1985<br />
F1 debut Australia 2011<br />
Career statistics to end of 2011:<br />
19 races<br />
0 wins<br />
0 pole positions<br />
0 fastest laps<br />
The first seven races of the 2012 Formula 1 season brought seven different race-winners and<br />
Pastor Maldonado was by far the most unlikely of them all.<br />
Not only is he only in his second season of Grand Prix racing, but also his Williams team had<br />
failed to win since 2004 and had just endured their worst-ever season with a miserable five<br />
points in 2011. Pole position in Barcelona (he got there when fastest qualifier Lewis Hamilton<br />
was demoted) and first place earned Maldonado a permanent place in Sir Frank’s heart.<br />
Maldonado is only the third driver from Venezuela to grace Formula 1, but that Spanish success<br />
means he is already the most successful. Johnny Cecotto was the country's only previous<br />
points-scorer, and the former motor cycle ace managed just one way back in 1983.<br />
Europe-based for a decade and more, Pastor competed in Italian Formula Renault in 2003 and<br />
in the Italian and Eurocup series in 2004, winning the Italian crown. He also tested an F1<br />
Minardi at Misano.<br />
After a difficult 2005, including a four-race World Series ban for dangerous driving, he secured a<br />
full-time seat in that championship for 2006 and was third.<br />
GP2 was to be his hunting-ground for four seasons, with a first-year win in Monaco for Trident<br />
Racing and a move to Piquet Sports in 2008, winning at Spa-Francorchamps on his way to fifth<br />
overall.<br />
Sixth with ART in 2009, Maldonado signed for Rapax in 2010 - and finally showed what he<br />
could do, winning no fewer than six of the Saturday feature races to secure the title.<br />
Like many others, Pastor put himself in the F1 shop window at the Abu Dhabi Young Driver Test<br />
in late 2010 and by December he had been named as a Williams Grand Prix driver for 2011. A<br />
single point in Belgium was his share in the team's worst season.<br />
That all changed in Spain in 2012.<br />
Pastor Maldonado’s 2012 statistics:<br />
18 races • 1 win • 1 pole position • 0 fastest laps • 43 points<br />
31<br />
31
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