'Crash magnet' Maldonado celebrates his 36th birthday today!
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado celebrates his 36th birthday today. The former Formula 1 driver is known to many fans because of his crashes in Formula 1, but Maldonado has also built a reputation, including being the last Williams driver to win a Grand Prix.
Between 2011 and 2015, Maldonado raced 96 Formula One Grands Prix. In his five years as an F1 driver, he only managed one podium, but that was an equal victory. In 2012, driving for Williams, the Venezuelan was tremendously strong in Barcelona, holding off home favourite Fernando Alonso.
A special weekend in Barcelona
In Barcelona, he also scored his first and only pole position. In the end, Maldonado's list of finishes is mostly made up of DNFs, due to bad luck and crashes. For example, in Australia 2012, where he parked his car in the wall at the beginning of the second sector or in Valencia, where he sent Lewis Hamilton into the wall.
In 2015, Maldonado retired from the sport. After that, Maldonado still drove in the World Endurance Championship, where he managed to win the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2019. In 2020, Pastor Maldonado won't really be back at the international motorsport level, but who knows, he might return to the WEC or another international racing class in 2021.