Maldonardo seat under threat at Renault. Kevin Magnussen in the frame.

David O'Reilly · Jan 13, 2016

With political tumoil in Venezuela and depressed oil prices it seems $50 million is harder to pull together than a year or two ago and PDVSA are late paying their sponsorship fees that pave the way for Pastors drive.

Renault have turned up the wick in their accounts receivable department by giving Kevin Magnussen a guided tour of the factory.

The talented Dane took second place in his debut drive at Melbourne in 2014 and is a rare example of a such a strong debut not cementing a drive.
He was demoted into the reserve driver role for 2015 to make way for Hondas' anointed choice- Alonso. This left Mclaren with a straight choice between Button and Magnussen. Ron Dennis reportedly favoured Magnussen but was outplayed or out-voted by his long term equity partner Mansour Ojjeh who wanted Button.
Kevin was finally let go late last year in favour of Stoffel Vandoorne a former Formula Sim Racing driver.
Magnussen beat him in FR 3.5 in 2014. Vandoorne added to his credentials as an FSR WC driver when he went on to take the GP2 title in 2015.

It seems this (Magnussens) talent has not been overlooked and Renault are looking at Magnussen.

the_sigman · Jan 13, 2016

It is Vandoorne

I hope Magnussen takes the seat, I like him as a driver.

FergalVET · Jan 13, 2016

Money has become hugley important for these lower teams, so i can understand why Maldonado was opted.. However I think he's been in the sport long enough for us to see that he is reckless, which is unfortunate, because he does have a bit of speed in him (2012). I reckon 2016 will be Pastor's final year, unless he proves himself worthy. I feel sorry for him, he gets a lot of critism and stick, and off track, he's probably the most humble fellow in the paddock.

Turk · Jan 19, 2016

I kind of feel sympathy for Maldonado, as much as he's been responsible for most of his own accidents, he's had terrible luck on top of that so that even when he does everything right he ends up in a wall.

Part of me would miss him, at least you know there's going to be some excitement waiting to see how he'll crash his car.