[Driver] Maldonado: Can he be changed, can he maximise his talent, or is he a lost cause?

[chunterer]

It's long been clear to me the Pastor Maldonado has some serious natural talent behind the wheel of a racing car.

It's also long been evident to me he also has some serious issues with his temperament and ability to 'think' during a pressure situation.

Both parts of his make up have been evident in the past but most clearly this season in F1 where he has regularly qualified strongly and won his maiden race in fine style, but on the other hand has either caused or got involved in too many unnecesary and potentially dangerous incidents.

What can be done and how - can Maldonado change his ways, and if so, would that effect his abilities, can Williams make the difference so he can mature as a drive a fulfil his potential?

Or, can nothing be done, is he always going to be a loose cannon?

[Peat]

I feel physically sick when i imagine the running total of points he has cost Williams this year.

The win briefly caused me to reconsider my opinion of him, but he returned to form in Monaco.

He is just extremely immature, i don't think he'll ever snap out of it either. He had long enough in WSR/GP2 to knock the edges off and he simply hasn't.

[davec]

For me the Valencia and Silverstone incidents are foolish but not serious, what is of major concern is crashing into another car on purpose (Spa, Monaco and GP2) and causing a serious injury under yellow flags. The crashing on purpose is scary as he has said each time that he does not think he was wrong, everyone makes mistakes in racing, some more than others but that oftern changes with time. Driving a 800hp racing car into someone else even at low speed can cause injury or death IF you are unlucky. It only takes a freak wheel to hit the wrong part of you.

IF something freak had happened and someone was injured or worse killed when he hit hamilton at Spa last year or perez in Monaco there could be a case for serious charges of assault worse.

[Paradise City]

No, I doubt it. I think he's a bit like those Busch brothers out in NASCAR. You can't drum that erratic and wild nature out - beyond a lobotomy anyway.

The fact that Maldonado is paying the bills and has a race win to trade on means Williams are kinda stuck with him too! For good and for ill.

[bella]

Originally Posted by davec

The crashing on purpose is scary as he has said each time that he does not think he was wrong, everyone makes mistakes in racing, some more than others but that oftern changes with time.

this is the scary bit for me - he's so convinced he's always in the right, he speaks with such conviction. it's the same with schumacher - how can it possibly be his fault? but i don't think it's on purpose as such - he doesn't think "the swine, i'll have him off for that". his reaction is for immediate revenge instead of trying to salvage his race. that's the difference between him and hamilton for example.

wasn't it interesting how he reacted to the hamilton incident at valencia versus the way vergne did? vergne didn't really know what had happened but was obviously immediately guilty about it - that affected the way he lied about what happened, and by the end of his interview he'd backtracked to saying he really needed to see what had happened on the tv footage. maldonado immediately swore he was innocent and had a massive blind spot to what he had done in retaliation to hamilton for running him off the road. that's the difference between a racing driver making a mistake and a racing driver having reactions that need fixing.

to be completely honest i'm not sure he has the intelligence to change his reaction, it's a part of who he is and how he races - and where his pace comes from. it's up to a team to take that on balance and decide whether it's worth it.

[davec]

Originally Posted by bella

this is the scary bit for me - he's so convinced he's always in the right, he speaks with such conviction. it's the same with schumacher - how can it possibly be his fault? but i don't think it's on purpose as such - he doesn't think "the swine, i'll have him off for that". his reaction is for immediate revenge instead of trying to salvage his race. that's the difference between him and hamilton for example.

I agree, I dont think he does it on purpose but its kind of like someone bumping into you in a pub and then you hitting them in the head with a bottle. He is using his car as a weapon for revenge.

Regarding the silverstone crash I find it strange that the penalty is 10k, this is a tiny amount for him and will not be any thought to him doing it again.

[shy tot racing]

Originally Posted by chunterer

It's long been clear to me the Pastor Maldonado has some serious natural talent behind the wheel of a racing car.

It's also long been evident to me he also has some serious issues with his temperament and ability to 'think' during a pressure situation.

Both parts of his make up have been evident in the past but most clearly this season in F1 where he has regularly qualified strongly and won his maiden race in fine style, but on the other hand has either caused or got involved in too many unnecesary and potentially dangerous incidents.

What can be done and how - can Maldonado change his ways, and if so, would that effect his abilities, can Williams make the difference so he can mature as a drive a fulfil his potential?

Or, can nothing be done, is he always going to be a loose cannon?

In my opinion he should have had his licence revoked after the Spa/hamilton episode. Nothing to do with who the other driver was. His action was a deliberate move to collide with another car.
Absolutely inexcusable!

[davyboy]

He does get involved in too many incidents but Spa aside, most of them appear to be the result of errors. Yesterday was another example of this. Maybe he needs a crash course in avoiding accidents ! Sorry I couldn't help myself there

[Marbot]

Last season we were talking about Hamilton's numerous incidents. This season we are talking about Maldonado's numerous incidents. The main difference seems to be that Maldonado is picking his targets randomly, which is much more worrying.

Can he be changed? He says there's no need to.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/101104

[bella]

yeah, i think hamilton and maldonado are very obviously different though. hamilton is a racer, but he isn't into immediate retaliation - he gets on and tries to salvage the race. that's the difference.

[BertMk2]

Agree that the Hamilton and Maldonado situations are very different, with Lewis it seemed to be a case of trying to pull off moves that weren't quite on or defending a lost cause too hard. With Maldonado it just appears to be red mist - the most worrying thing though is that he not only isn't capable of accepting any responsibility for his actions but he also seems incapable of thinking through the possible implications his actions may have. He appears to be as dumb as a rock and that's not going to change any time soon. Fast because he's not intelligent enough to know how much it's going to hurt?

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by bella

yeah, i think hamilton and maldonado are very obviously different though. hamilton is a racer, but he isn't into immediate retaliation - he gets on and tries to salvage the race. that's the difference.

Maldonado's a racer too and with the exception of Spa last year, hasn't retaliated either. He is more accident prone than Hamilton though. Is that down to chance ? There are parallels being drawn with Andrea de Cesaris, but he was a kid not long out of karts that was overdriving his way into big shunts. Maldonado's been on the car scene a long time and as evidenced by his win, has honed his racecraft.

[luke g28]

Originally Posted by shy tot racing

In my opinion he should have had his licence revoked after the Spa/hamilton episode. Nothing to do with who the other driver was. His action was a deliberate move to collide with another car.
Absolutely inexcusable!

This.

I have not seen any other racers deliberately side swipe another car.

Hamilton's incidents last season were of the Silverstone type, where he probably shouldn't have stuck his car there but did anyway. While not to be encouraged these type of incidents do happen.

However Maldonado in Monaco and Spa last year is unacceptable and I cant believe he continues to get away with it. Actually MSC undertook a similar manoeuvre in practice against Hamilton and also got away with it.

[wolfhound]

I think Sunday's incident would not have been punished so hard if it had been some who is not on the stewards radar involved.

However Maldonado has a list of incidents and I think his next serious one should be given a multi-race suspended ban. That way he will have to be on best behaviour around other cars.

I have noticed that Schumacher has been spending less time with the stewards this year, has he learned something?

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by Marbot

Can he be changed? He says there's no need to.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/101104

PM from the above article, "I have the team's support because they have the data and when we went to the stewards it is very clear that I lost the car," Maldonado told AUTOSPORT.

his teams support? maybe i have missed some press releases or interviews over the past several months because im curious why they are not more vocal with their support then?

Hamilton, regardless of what people think of him, has a team that supports him even when he makes mistakes (and there have been many). they are always there to either defend him with data or help him shoulder the blame...except of course when they lied but imo they have tried very hard to make amends for it ever since by being more open.

engineers and teams have reputations too and it doesnt seem like anyone on the inside of the Williams garage is going out of their way to add their words of support to publicly defend PM's take on things.

imo their lack of public support behind PM is a bit telling.

[darcym]

causing an accident by trying too hard/bad judgment is part of racing, it's not good but it happens especially under pressure.


Pastor should have had his super license ripped up after the Spa incident last year as said earler, that action has the ability to kill someone.

He's also done this (potentially) this year but at a lesser speed, at Monaco.

The fact that it was mentioned on the TV coverage that the drivers discussed in the briefing they have concerns about his driving decisions is not good.

That said, there is kobayashi who seems to get into a lot of accidents and Webber even commented on Radio 1 today "he has the potential to do that", but you get the impression it's more trying too hard, where as Pastor's actions come across as "I'll get you".

The lack of "Pastor support" from Williams is a bit concerning teams back their drivers if they are confident of mistakes/accidents/being in the right, I'm not saying anything from Williams other than "disspointing" comments.

That said it's easy to sit in the arm chair and judge without the data.

[StefanM]

I think that after the Monaco incident we should all agree that Maldonado is a very aggresive character. I think that he is a danger to the drivers around him and i read a comment ealier in this post where someone mentioned that he has cost the team a bunch of points. Surely Williams will be looking at Maldonado and thinking about a possible replacement because there are much more talented drivers out there. Not to mention less aggresive. I think that Bottas should be given an oppurtunity next year. I know i forgot to mention the win, but does anyone mention the win anymore, especially with the amount of incidents hes been involved in.

[nicanary]

Maldonado brings petro-dollars with him. End of story.

[The Snout]

Pastor is a top driver going through some growing pains, nothing more. The whole nanny state reaction to him is over the top.

Williams have a good driver, they need to sack up and back the guy. Although driver loyalty isn't something that runs through Williams dna.

[The Snout]

Originally Posted by Peat

I feel physically sick when i imagine the running total of points he has cost Williams this year.

Williams got the fleas with the dog when they decided to whore their drive out for $$$$. They need to suck it up and support him.

[beau1]

Apart from his two qualifying incidents he really isn't that bad. Both of those incidents were stupid and petulant and that is what needs to be addressed.

As for his race behavoir, he really isn't any worse than someone like Lewis Hamilton has been in the previous two seaons. He races to win and all costs, that doesn't mean he should be banned though - yes he costs his team points, as did Hamilton, Schumacher, Alonso, Massa, Webber, Vettel and most of the top drivers with their stupid driving at some point in their careers.

The important thing with Maldonado is that he is quick, yes he can be stupid but lets hope SFW can get the best out of the young man and gets him thinking about the right things. It is true that if Pastor had calmed down a little bit then he would probably be about 6th in the Championship but the speed is there even if the brains arn't. Bruno Senna is the true problem at Williams, not Pastor.

[chunterer]

Problem is the sport is littered with very fast drivers who never made it because they didn't get the breaks or didn't have the strength of mind to knuckle down and concentrate on maximising their natural skill.

There are al m those who burst onto the scene looked like potential champions but who lost their way or weren't managed properly and lost their edge.

[littleman]

I agree with Bella - Maldonado just isn't bright enough to realise you can't drive like he does in the squeaky clean, penalty infested, 21st century world of F1 we have today.In the 1980's and 90's he'd probably have been OK - but not now.

Hamilton & Schumacher are intelligent enough to recognise that any driver error will now incurr the wrath of the stewards so have adjusted their approach accordingly.

William's need to sit Maldonado down and explain this to him in words of one syllable.

[bella]

Originally Posted by littleman

I agree with Bella - Maldonado just isn't bright enough to realise you can't drive like he does in the squeaky clean, penalty infested, 21st century world of F1 we have today.In the 1980's and 90's he'd probably have been OK - but not now.

can you remember anyone else who was able to do that sort of shenanigans and get away with it? obviously schumacher and his title winning swipes from the 90s but how about before that?

[littleman]

Unfortunately, the greatest driver of all time - Ayrton Senna - was also probably the most aggressive and ruthless of them all.Remember him firing Prost straight off the track in Japan? driving Prost into the pit wall in Portugal? weaving into Prost on the old Hockenheim straights?climbing on top of Martin Brundle during an Oulton Park F3 race?

In my view, Senna set the tone for aggressive driving for a whole generation of younger drivers - not his greatest legacy I'm afraid.