Pastor Maldonado is better than he gets credit for says Lotus team
Pastor Maldonado dealt with Lotus's tough 2014 Formula 1 season better than Romain Grosjean and does not deserve his "awfully bad" image, reckons the team's trackside operations director Alan Permane
Maldonado only once made it into the points in F1 in 2014 as Lotus tumbled down the order.
But Permane said Lotus had only praise for Maldonado's attitude in adversity, despite the Venezuelan seeing his former team Williams surge forward.
"Pastor has an awfully bad image from the outside, and of course he does do some silly things on track every now and again," Permane told AUTOSPORT.
"But to work with, he's one of the best drivers I've ever worked with - his feedback, how calm he is, nothing flusters him at all.
"He's very, very good and he works incredibly hard. Whatever's happening, he's in there doing his stuff and getting on with it.
"There's very rarely a magic button to press, it's just hard work that gets you out of trouble. And he recognises that and gets on with it.
"It's no secret he brings a lot of funding to the team. In his position, it would be very easy for him to have tantrums and get hysterical, and he's not done it once. Never. I think that's great."
GROSJEAN FRUSTRATED
Permane admitted that Grosjean let the frustration of 2014 get to him more than Maldonado.
"Pastor doesn't get frustrated in his nature, and there's no doubt Romain did get frustrated about [2014] - he wants to succeed, he wants to win races, he wants to win championships, and we had a very bad year," Permane added.
"I think how Romain drove in the last half of 2013 was exceptional - he was the only person to take any sort of fight to the Red Bulls.
"Pastor, I think, deals with [problems] a little better. It's not that his hunger or desire is any less, it just comes out in a different way.
"It does affect Romain, whereas Pastor will sit and think about it then come to you with a list of 'why don't we try this, this and this'."
ASKING TOO MUCH
Asked if Maldonado was better at driving within the tricky Lotus E22's limits while Grosjean tended to demand too much of it, Permane replied: "I think that's true. That's Romain's frustration.
"He wants to do well so much and he's been asking stuff of the car that it can't do.
"That really only comes out on a Friday with him. By the time we get to Saturday he's got his head around it and realised it.
"But he really wants to make a big step, and instead of making a couple of tenths and sneaking a place, he wants to qualify in the middle of the top 10, and the car just wasn't capable of that.
"What we need to do is give him a car that's predictable and doesn't have any nasty traits to it.
"We'll get more out of Romain like that."
Ferrari bosses say F1 needs a revolution to appeal to younger fans
World Endurance Champion Sebastien Buemi retains Red Bull F1 role
De Vries cleared of wrongdoing in dispute over €250K loan
Nyck de Vries has been cleared of any wrongdoing in an Amsterdam court over a claim launched against him by real estate magnate Jeroen Schothorst relating to a €250,000 loan.
Horner admits Red Bull’s real RB19 will be ‘somewhat different’
Red Bull boss Christian Horner says the real RB19 that will appear in Formula 1 testing in Bahrain later this month will be ‘somewhat different'.
Horner hints at closer links between Mercedes and Williams F1 teams
Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner has hinted that there could be a closer relationship between the Mercedes and Williams Formula 1 teams in the wake of James Vowles’s move.
Ford remains committed to WRC amid F1 return
Ford has stated that it remains committed to its programme in the World Rally Championship following confirmation of its return to Formula 1 as an engine supplier from 2026.
Assessing Hamilton's remarkable decade as a Mercedes F1 driver
Many doubted Lewis Hamilton’s move from McLaren to Mercedes for the 2013 Formula 1 season. But the journey he’s been on since has taken the Briton to new heights - and to a further six world championship titles
Why new look Haas is a litmus test for Formula 1’s new era
OPINION: With teams outside the top three having struggled in Formula 1 in recent seasons, the rules changes introduced in 2022 should have more of an impact this season. How well Haas does, as the poster child for the kind of team that F1 wanted to be able to challenge at the front, is crucial
The Mercedes F1 pressure changes under 10 years of Toto Wolff
OPINION: Although the central building blocks for Mercedes’ recent, long-lasting Formula 1 success were installed before he joined the team, Toto Wolff has been instrumental in ensuring it maximised its finally-realised potential after years of underachievement. The 10-year anniversary of Wolff joining Mercedes marks the perfect time to assess his work
The all-French F1 partnership that Ocon and Gasly hope to emulate
Alpine’s signing of Pierre Gasly alongside Esteban Ocon revives memories of a famous all-French line-up, albeit in the red of Ferrari, for BEN EDWARDS. Can the former AlphaTauri man's arrival help the French team on its path back to winning ways in a tribute act to the Prancing Horse's title-winning 1983?
How do the best races of F1 2022 stack up to 2021?
OPINION: A system to score all the grands prix from the past two seasons produces some interesting results and sets a standard that 2023 should surely exceed
Who were the fastest drivers in F1 2022?
Who was the fastest driver in 2022? Everyone has an opinion, but what does the stopwatch say? Obviously, differing car performance has an effect on ultimate laptime – but it’s the relative speed of each car/driver package that’s fascinating and enlightening says ALEX KALINAUCKAS
Why F1's nearly man is refreshed and ready for his return
He has more starts without a podium than anyone else in Formula 1 world championship history, but Nico Hulkenberg is back for one more shot with Haas. After spending three years on the sidelines, the revitalised German is aiming to prove to his new team what the F1 grid has been missing
The potential-laden F1 car that Ferrari neglected
The late Mauro Forghieri played a key role in Ferrari’s mid-1960s turnaround, says STUART CODLING, and his pretty, intricate 1512 was among the most evocative cars of the 1.5-litre era. But a victim of priorities as Formula 1 was deemed less lucrative than success in sportscars, its true potential was never seen in period
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.