Creative accounting and favours. You can't believe anything you see these days.
Of more interest to me is what is happening with Venezuela's currency.
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Lotus F1 team principal Eric Boullier has made his report of his team's first half of the season and sees no reason to believe that the strong form cannot continue into the second half of the season.
plus some "compensation" money to be transferred to williams -they had a contract going ,didn´t they ?xpensive wrote:I wonder how Maldonado is connected to PDVSA, if he gets a 30 kUSD-check in blanco to spend as he sees fit every season?
- 1.godlameroso wrote:Totally boneheaded move sticking Kovalinen in the car, after his dismal outing in Austin I seriously hope they give Valesecchi a chance in Brazil
Maldonado himself was a great friend of Hugo Chavez, he even was one of the guards of honour at Chávez's funeral,xpensive wrote:A wild guess is that Maldonados dad is a high-ranking partymember of the PSUV?
"It's a huge responsibility that I have," Maldonado, who had the personal approval of late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, told CNN. "I have a complete country pushing in my back so every day we do not do very well, I have some pressure."
]"If a government thinks that it can increase trade and tourism by presenting an image of itself as a technologically savvy, glamorous destination and a center of sporting excellence, then F1 is a good way to achieve this," Sylt continued.
so now we have pastor with pressure, and we have a team he last year homed in o pole position and a win, and several front-qualifying runs, and now runs at the very back of the field. dissapointing? who wouldnt be! GP winner to backmarker.As well as the traditional logos prominently painted on the car's livery, Venezuela now gets a mention every time Maldonado is strapped into a car.
"I have more than many responsibilities," Maldonado explained with a half smile. "I am the only one in Venezuela who has Formula 1 on his back. It's quite hard for me to keep everyone happy."
"PDVSA and the sponsors I had in the past, and that I still have, believe in my talent," said Maldonado, who is still aware that he has to sing for his supper.
"I was the first racing driver who was racing with the colors of PDVSA, the main oil company of the country.
"In Venezuela we don't like to lose, we always approach to win."
"You know, F1 after my victory last year became a very popular sport," Maldonado explained. "We have two live TV channels so it's getting bigger and bigger -- which is why I have even more responsibility."
The death of Chavez, a self-styled" 21st Century socialist," left Venezuela in a state of flux and it arguably deprived Maldonado of his biggest supporter.
When asked how much the late president had personally helped his career, Maldonado answered: "A lot.
"It was not only my career it was the career of many racing drivers, Rodolfo Gonzalez (GP2), E.J. Viso, who is in IndyCar; many, many racing drivers."
Being backed by the state has intrinsically linked Maldonado to Venezuela in so many ways.
He is indebted to PDVSA for his position in F1 and in turn he feels he is an ambassador for Venezuela, his compatriots and the legacy of President Chavez.
When countries decide to directly invest in F1's drivers, the responsibility lies heavily on the racer's shoulders.
Maldonado has become a political figure just as much as a f1 driver. That brings a lot of weight to his shoulders, and it would be illogical to think that would not affect his racing activities. But being a high-profile political figure, brings theEven if Maldonado finds himself without an F1 drive in the future he is already determined to pay back part of his debt he believes he owes to his country through the Pastor Maldonado Foundation, a charitable organization that he set up in 2005.
