One year ago, Pastor Maldonado was on top of the world in F1, having broken through for his first formula one win. Now returning to Barcelona in 2013, Williams has suffered a major performance slump, and - backmarkers Caterham and Marussia aside - is the only team yet to score a single point this season. "At the moment we are living hard moments," Venezuelan Maldonado, 28, said.
But after the first four 'flyaway' races of the season, the Spanish grand prix is traditionally the scene of a performance jump for many teams, as major upgrade packages are added to the cars. And Williams - and other underperforming teams like McLaren and Sauber - have higher hopes than most that they can make a big step forward this weekend.
But Force India team boss Bob Fernley is not so sure. "Apart from McLaren, who we know will come back and be as strong as always, for the rest of the teams there is not much (development potential) left in these cars," he told PA Sport. "We've been pretty stable (with the regulations) for the last few years, so there are not big leaps."
Maldonado agrees that Williams' task is more complicated than simply bolting on some 'go faster' bits. "I think we need some time," he said. "The problems we have got are quite big but hopefully step by step we're going to get there."
He is not hiding the obvious pain that Williams' 2012-2013 decline is causing, having cut a noticeably downbeat figure in the paddocks so far this year. "Sometimes you don't feel very happy," Maldonado admitted, "but this is racing, you know. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not and we need to do our best when it's like that to try to improve, to try to survive."
This weekend is also the one year anniversary of Williams' Barcelona pit fire, and one team member - mechanic Martin 'Barney' Betts - is still yet to fully recover from severe burns. "Barney, with the injuries he sustained, has had to have a significant time off but it is important that he comes back and is well looked after," deputy team boss Claire Williams told the Sun newspaper. (GMM)
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Maldonado and Williams won't repeat stunt in Spain
- Published on 07 May 2013 11:20
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- By: Rob Veenstra
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Formula 1 Calendar - 2026
Date
Grand Prix
Circuit
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Spain
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Bahrain
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Bahrain
Formula 1 Calendar - 2026
Date
Grand Prix & Circuit
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Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
-
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
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Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
6 - Mar 8
Australia
Albert Park
13 - Mar 15
27 - Mar 29
Japan
Circuit Suzuka
10 - Apr 12
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
17 - Apr 19
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Street Circuit
1 - May 3
United States of America
Miami International Autodrome
22 - May 24
Canada
Gilles Villeneuve
5 - Jun 7
Monaco
Monte Carlo
12 - Jun 14
Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
26 - Jun 28
Austria
Red Bull Ring
3 - Jul 5
United Kingdom
Silverstone
17 - Jul 19
Belgium
Spa-Francorchamps
24 - Jul 26
Hungary
Hungaroring
21 - Aug 23
Netherlands
Circuit Zandvoort
4 - Sep 6
Italy
Monza
11 - Sep 13
Spain
Madring
Driver profile
- Team Renault
- Points 27
- Podiums 0
- Grand Prix 19
- Country VE
- Date of b. Mar 9 1985 (41)
- Place of b. Maracay, Aragua, VE
- Weight 68 kg
- Length 1.73 m
- 27,547 comments on Renault
9 members have this team as their favourite
Tweets about Pastor Maldonado
Team profile
- Team name Sauber
- Base - Switzerland
- Gabriel Bortoleto
- Kimi Räikkönen 7
- Felipe Massa 8
- Marcus Ericsson 9
- Nico Hülkenberg 11
- Felipe Nasr 12
- Esteban Gutierrez 12
- Felipe Massa 12
- Felipe Massa 12
- Kamui Kobayashi 14
- Sergio Perez 15
- Charles Leclerc 16
- Kamui Kobayashi 16
- Sergio Perez 17
- Kimi Räikkönen 17
- Esteban Gutierrez 21
- Kamui Kobayashi 23
- Guanyu Zhou 24
- Nico Hülkenberg 27
- Antonio Giovinazzi 36
- Valtteri Bottas 77
- Pascal Wehrlein 94
- Adrian Sutil 99
- 115,816 comments on Sauber
- 5 members have this team as their favourite
- Tweets about Sauber
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