Pastor Maldonado excited by chance for new F1 start after Williams

The Venezuelan had been weighing up offers from Sauber and Lotus for 2014 after deciding that he no longer wanted to stay at Williams.

Sources suggest that he has focused his efforts on Lotus since the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend and that a deal has been agreed in principle for him to race alongside Romain Grosjean next year.

Confirmation of the team's plans could come as early as Friday.

Maldonado has declined to talk about his future until a contract is in place, but has made it clear that he is excited about the next phase of his career after a difficult season at Williams.

And although relations with his former outfit were strained towards the end of the season, he believes his time at Williams was valuable to helping him improve as a driver.

"I really learned a lot from the team," Maldonado told AUTOSPORT. "They gave me an opportunity to have Rubens Barrichello my first year as team-mate.

"Last year we won a race which was very special for the team because they had had many years without winning races.

"Now, even looking at the situation we had this year, it didn't look easy to get back to winning races.

"But it was a special time and this year I learned even more than the previous two seasons, even if we did not achieve the targets.

"Now though, I feel ready to go for something else."

Maldonado's expected confirmation at Lotus is likely to be the trigger point for the remainder of the driver market to fall into place - with Nico Hulkenberg, who had been in contention for a seat at Enstone, set to join Force India instead.