Maldonado: “I am a driver who takes risks”

You are often involved in racing incidents…

I am a driver who takes risks and, inevitably, opinions are often contradictory towards me. People applaud me when I pull off a surprising maneuver and point fingers at me when I mess up. The criticism doesn't bother me that much because there are only 20 of us on the grid, and it's like a magnifying glass effect... I make mistakes, but I also achieve great things.

How do you see the rest of the season?

I'm pretty confident. The potential is there and I'm riding very well at the moment. The team is also doing an excellent job. Our 2015 set works well. It's night and day compared to last year, and not just because of the switch to motors Mercedes. We no longer have power, but that's not all. We approached this season in a completely different way than the previous one.

Romain Grosjean complains about being the only one to have to give up his car during the free practice session on Friday morning. Do you understand his frustration?

Yes, I understand he's bitter but he's not the first this has happened to and he won't be the last. When I was at Williams, Valtteri Bottas was regularly on track on Friday morning in Bruno Senna's car... Last year, the same Bottas had to give up his car to Susie Wolff on two occasions without this affecting his performance. SO…

Discover the full interview with Pastor Maldonado in the 2017 issue of AUTOhebdo, available since Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and since Wednesday on newsstands.