Maldonado: “I proved that I deserved my place”

Pastor Maldonado admitted he was pained by the criticism against him, with the Venezuelan suffering a negative image in the paddock of the F1 despite his victory at the 2012 Spanish GP with Williams.

The Lotus driver is particularly known for his numerous collisions in the peloton, but the latter denies being too reckless on the track. “Certainly, I have been involved in some accidents”, recognized Pastor Maldonado on Globo.com. “Imagine me instead ofAlonso during the crash (with Kimi Räikkönen) in Austria. No one was sanctioned, it was simply a racing incident between two world champions. But there would have been a huge scandal and enormous media pressure if I had been involved. This is an example of what happens when I'm on the track. »

Pastor Maldonado says loud and clear that he deserves his place in F1 despite his status as a paid driver which is far from exclusive in the paddock. “A lot of people underestimated me and my victory in Barcelona was a big lesson for them”, added the Venezuelan. “I'm still underestimated in F1, but that's only because I haven't had the benefit of car allowing me to express my skills in recent years... Some drivers don't deserve to be in F1, but I think that I proved that I deserved my place for a long time. »

Pastor Maldonado occupies 14th place in the Championship, 11 points behind his teammate Romain Grosjean.