Lotus driver Pastor Maldonado hopes to at least earn some points in this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix to begin the climb up from bottom place.
While all the headlines revolve around Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton at the top of the F1 table, Pastor Maldonado is experiencing life at the other end of the spectrum, currently residing in 22nd place.
This is the Venezuelan’s first season with Lotus after two years with Williams and it has not gone well. Six races in and the team are still having all sorts of problems and it reached an all-time low in Monaco when the car never even left the grid.
Having finished 14th in Spain, Maldonado was hopeful of doing well in the principality, as it is a course that he likes, so to not start was a big blow to his ambitions.
He said: “The chances in Monaco are always very high, and I was ready to do a great race, but unfortunately it was not to be.
“We were not the only team to have technical problems at the last race, however we just need to work harder to try to solve all of the small issues and get better with each race.
“I’m trying to do better from my side and also to help the engineers improve the car.
“This is a crucial moment for the team, approaching the middle of the season. We need to push very hard to recover what we lost at the beginning.
“It’s very easy to just give up, but I think it will make us stronger in the end.”
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal will not help the current Lotus car, with long straights and low-speed corners, but Maldonado will not give up before the race is even run.
“Anything can happen and our guys are all working very hard to adapt the car to find more traction in the slow corners and squeeze out some more top speed,” he added.
As expected, Hamilton is the favourite at 1.48 with Dafabet, while odds of 301.00 for Maldonado reflect his chances of causing a shock.
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