Pastor Maldonado

Pastor Rafael Maldonado Motta (born 9 March 1985) is a Venezuelan professional racing driver, who competed in Formula One for the Williams (2011–2013) and Lotus (2014–2015) teams and as a Pirelli test driver until 2017.

Maldonado was born on 9 March 1985 in Maracay, Venezuela.

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

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

Maldonado was invited to Kartódromo Carmencita Hernández in 1992 and was impressed with the karts that were running on the track.

After that, he convinced his father to let him drive one.

A year later, Maldonado had his first appearances in karting championships.

Since at the time there was no proper category for his age, he competed against kids that were 10–12 years old.

Maldonado's first experience of formula racing was in Italy in 2003.

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

His notable results included three podium finishes and one pole position.

Cram Competition also entered one round of the German Formula Renault Championship at Oschersleben.

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

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

In the European championship, he was classified eighth overall, with two wins.

Maldonado also 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.

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

The team's former owner, Giancarlo Minardi, was present at the test and commented positively about Maldonado's performance.

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

He 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.

He also entered nine races (and made seven starts) in the Spanish-based World Series by Renault, with a best finish of seventh.

However, his participation in the WSR was marred by a four-race ban for dangerous driving.

He failed to slow down at the scene of an accident at Monaco, despite the presence of warning flags, and struck and seriously injured a marshal.

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

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

In a season that was marked by controversy Maldonado could have won the title were it not for a disqualification from first place at Misano for a technical infringement.

Draco Racing lodged an appeal and the results of the championship remained provisional until Italy's National Court of Appeal for Motorsport upheld the stewards' decision at a hearing in January 2007.

The lost fifteen points would have been enough to move him up from third to first in the standings, ahead of Alx Danielsson and Borja García.

Maldonado's performances in FR3.5 were enough to attract the interest of GP2 teams, and he signed a contract to drive for Trident Racing in 2007 after a successful test in late 2006.

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

However, he had to miss the final four rounds of the season after breaking a collarbone during training, leaving him outside the championship top 10.

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

At midseason he had two poles and two podiums.

He had a farcical sprint race in the wet at Silverstone – he stalled on the dummy grid, picked up a penalty for speeding in the pitlane as he joined the race, another penalty for passing under yellow flags, and crashed into Adrián Vallés and Kamui Kobayashi on the final lap.

He 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.

Four podium finishes—including a win at Spa—in the final six races saw him rise to fifth place in the drivers' championship by the end of the season.

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

Before entering Formula One, he won the 2010 GP2 Series championship.

He 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.

It was also his only podium finish and his only win in Formula One.