Maldonado: “I'm still here”

Upon his arrival in Monte Carlo Pastor Maldonado responds without too many turns of phrase and euphemisms to the attacks of Antonio Alvarez, currently at the top of the Venezuelan Ministry of Sports, who in recent days had expressed his desire to remove funding from motorsport and therefore from him too.

“I went through the same thing last year but I'm still here – he told the media – The minister must remember that it is not he who sponsors me but PDVSA. They are two different programs and the oil company has never talked about supporting F1 as he claims. I want to say that my presence in the Circus is due to what I have done, therefore to the victories obtained both here and in the minor categories, an aspect not common to all the drivers on the grid. Beyond this we are talking about a Lotus partner who is not my personal one, or rather not anymore given that I lost him after winning the GP2 title and only because we remained on good terms he decided to follow me in my career".

Chiara Rainis