F1: Renault talks leave Maldonado's future in the balance

[Jack Hunsley]

Pastor Maldonado's tenure as a staple on the Formula One grid may well be about to come to an end due to complications from the Renault takeover rumours surrounding the Lotus Formula 1 team, after PDVSA put their sponsorship money on hold.

With a Renault takeover seemingly imminent following an allegedly successful meeting between the two parties on Monday, Maldonado's main sponsor, PDVSA (a Venezuelan oil company), have put their contribution to Lotus's income stream on hold until the waters clear, leaving Lotus out to dry in the process.

Without the money from the PDVSA deal, which comes in at a reported $50 million, Lotus have been unable to continue the development of their car nor pay their bills, which resulted in their equipment being impounded at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit just a few short hours after Romain Grosjean gave the team their first podium since the 2013 American Grand Prix.

The main issue for Maldonado and his sponsors comes from the fact that his team mate is backed by French rival oil company Total, and at the present moment, Grosjean appears to be Renault's preferred driver for 2016 should they be forced to chose between the two. Meanwhile, a cryptic tweet from former Sauber F1 driver, Esteban Gutierrez, posted from Paris has thrust the young Mexican firmly into the limelight should Maldonado or Grosjean not be retained.

No doubt more will be revealed at this weekend's Italian Grand Prix. So stick and stay with RaceDepartment.com for all the developments on this and many more breaking stories in Formula One.

 

[R.J. O'Connell]

I think we may be seeing Maldonado's last few F1 races here. He hasn't performed up to par at Lotus, and if Renault is buying them out, they eliminate the need for the main reason they got Maldonado - the almost $100M he brings annually from PDVSA. Provided of course, the checks don't bounce.

I'm happy that a deal to buy Lotus seems close. They aren't sustainable as they are.

 

[Aidan Keranen]

I'm of the opinion, and it's sort of been seen in the past, that French teams are well supported by French companies, especially the oil companies.
If Renault do return, plus bring their money, why would they show off a Venezuelan company instead?
So yeah, his time at the Enstone team is probably counting down, but at the same time, why not someone like Sauber pick him up for the cash? They could really do with it no doubt.

 

[Torcano]

"Aww... poor Maldonado, I feel sorry for him" - Said no one ever. I'm all in for getting rid of sponsorship babies from F1. I doubt it's gonna be detracting for the sport. Frees up more spots for young ones with more talent, most of the new blood in F1 right now show great promise for the future. And the better they do the more sponsors they would attract. Sadly it all sounds way too ideal to ever work in the vast money hungry bottomless pit that is F1 with its enormous cost barrier for participation.

 

[Mark Aalberts]

Renault will return that's pretty much sure, the only question is how it is going to happen. I have the feeling that they are waiting till Lotus goes bankrupt so it will cost them less. The only problem they than have is that more parties can acquire the Lotus equipment. etc. Im not sure if they want to take this risk but time will tell. However when I hear that Bernie paid money to Lotus in order to pay the salary it is pretty obvious that the boiling kettle is getting to hot.

As far as i understood the deal is a long term deal to acquire ~60% of the stocks and buy Renault in over the next 6 years with 10 million payment per year. It will be a similar deal to what Mercedes is having with Wolf and Lauda.

As far as concerned Maldonado, I am sure the lower tier teams are more then eager to take him onboard with his 50 million PDVSA money.

 

[Flammenjc]

Marussia should take Maldonado instead of Will Stevens, that should make things more interesting.

 

[El-ahrairah]

Lol Maldonado is just toxic at this point. He's essentially holding the team at ransom to keep his drive. How can he work with anyone in the team on a professional level at this point?

 

[vee10]

It will be great to see the full Renault works team back, one of the mainstays of modern F1 for nearly 40 years. Hope the yellow and black livery will be back on the grid.

As for Maldanado he has had plenty of chances to prove he is not just a pay driver but has failed. I can't see why Renault would keep him on, I think they probably have enough cash to do without his money and I am sure they can do without the repair bills as well.

 

[El-ahrairah]

It will be great to see the full Renault works team back, one of the mainstays of modern F1 for nearly 40 years. Hope the yellow and black livery will be back on the grid.
As for Maldanado he has plenty of chances to prove he is not just a pay driver but has failed. I can't see why Renault would keep him on, I think they probably have enough cash to do without his money and I am sure they can do without the repair bills as well.

FTFY

 

[vee10]

FTFY

Took me a moment to spot it! Renault & Mercedes have a lot of road car & engineering partnerships ongoing perhaps they should have a word and see if they can have a rummage in the Mercedes parts bin.

I bet Renault and Red bull will be glad to part ways, for a partnership that has produced four world titles they don'y half moan about each other especially Red Bull.

 

[fortyfivekev]

I would love to see Pastor have a go at Nascar so one of the good old boys can punch him in the face every week when he punts them off.

Seriously though, he is an embarrassment to F1 and is just keeping some young guy from getting a decent drive so the sooner he goes the better.

 

[Colin Knowles]

Seriously though, he is an embarrassment to F1 and is just keeping some young guy from getting a decent drive so the sooner he goes the better.

Embarrassment under-performing I could tolerate but not an embarrassment

Former GP2 Champion and F1 race winner...

 

[Dan Allen]

Embarrassment under-performing I could tolerate but not an embarrassment

Former GP2 Champion and F1 race winner...

He's had more crashes than race wins...

 

[Colin Knowles]

He's had more crashes than race wins...

Really ? I did not know this....

Still a f1 race win more than Roman with or without his alleged $50m baggage

 

[fortyfivekev]

...

Former GP2 Champion and F1 race winner...

Took him 4 years in GP2 though and there are a bunch of not so great GP2 champions who just happened to have been in the right team at the right time and/or had big sponsors. If he drove every time like he did when he won his GP then I would feel differently about him but he doesn't.

It's only F1's ridiculous economics that have kept him in the car. If the teams actually got more of the income he would have got one or two seasons at best in F1 and would be in Brazilian Stock Cars now where I am sure he would do pretty well.

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

I doubt he'd even do well in Stock Cars to be honest...

He seems like a decent bloke, he just does far too many silly things in the car. His win at Barcelona was exceptional I have to admit, but basically that's the only thing positive he's done in F1. As for GP2, he won his title against a less than stella field after several years in the series. In my opinion, if you put him back in now and he'd struggle for points...

Also I'd like to know how much money his accident damage has cost compared to the cash he brings in... not to mention the cost of lost points that a more established driver would of won in the same car over the years..

All in, for a bloke who drives like he does, he's had a good run for a number of years as a GP driver, won a race and lived the life.. that's more than most of us can say so good on him. However, time to move over now and let someone with real talent (not Esteban please..) have a go..

 

[Mark Aalberts]

edit.

 

[vee10]

edit.

I heard their camper van is stuck in traffic.

 

[Mark Aalberts]

Yeah I removed my post since I got some misleading information. The hospitality unit didn't arrived at Monza yet, however this could be due to that their equipment was impounded at Spa and released later so they might be behind on schedule.

Lets see what happens.

 

[Steve William]

This is what i hate about racing in general (Paid to drive drivers), like pasta if he just goes away from F1, actually from all sort of racing, we will probably see more drivers finish their races, get it...! because he is not there to crash into them

But who is to be blamed! the FIA or the team or the driver or the deep pockets that keep supplying the team with money to keep him racing!