Is it time pastor left the sport?

As long as he has his sugar daddies, unfortunately not.

yes, he's a dangerous liability IMO, only in the sport because he comes with money through sponsorship.

Sad reflection of the sport that talentless drivers with money can rob talented drivers of a chance.

He's a wealthy thug, sadly money talks big in F1 (well most sports actually)

yes, he's a dangerous liability IMO, only in the sport because he comes with money through sponsorship.

Sad reflection of the sport that talentless drivers with money can rob talented drivers of a chance.

No poll so presumably just another thread for the anti-Crashtor circlejerkers to high five each other in.

I hope he stays for 20 seasons just to piss you all off.

He's very talented but doesn't seem to have the ability to make good decisions when other cars are in with 100m of him. Bit of a modern-day Andrea de Cesaris (money too).

He's also being shown up by Grosjean quite badly but then again most drivers would be.

Edited by Risil, 11 May 2014 - 21:40.

he has actually WON a race don't forget.

You'd have thought after 3 years he'd have learned to keep his composure a bit. The sad part is that he's actually talented enough to win. We saw two years ago that if you give him the car he can pull off a stunning drive, yet it seems that the silly mistakes or red mist moments are never consigned to the history books.

There's going to be a time when even Pastor's millions won't be enough to keep him in a seat. Team Willy are hardly flush with cash, but by all accounts they had completely lost patience with him before terminating the contract with PDVSA. Though Lotus is probably worse off than Williams, if Maldonado carries on making mistake after mistake, they too will eventually become sick of him.

It's also worth considering that other sponsors may not be so eager to have there logo right next to Venezuelan petro-money. Of course, the same argument applies to all the other tinpot countries Bernie wants to send F1 to.

There's going to be a time when even Pastor's millions won't be enough to keep him in a seat. Team Willy are hardly flush with cash, but by all accounts they had completely lost patience with him before terminating the contract with PDVSA. Though Lotus is probably worse off than Williams, if Maldonado carries on making mistake after mistake, they too will eventually become sick of him.

It's also worth considering that other sponsors may not be so eager to have there logo right next to Venezuelan petro-money. Of course, the same argument applies to all the other tinpot countries Bernie wants to send F1 to.

Sad reflection of the sport that talentless drivers with money can rob talented drivers of a chance.

Slightly unfair as he's got talent, he's a GP winner. But I agree he is dangerous, petulant, fragile and likely to cause incidents every race. I hope he doesn't hurt himself or anyone else during his hopefully brief F1 career. Personally I think they should show him the exit door, the sooner the better.

Has he had any more points on his licence this weekend?

yes he is just another Andrea de Cesaris, fast but clumsy, he needs to go.

Yes, he's an embarrassment to the sport. There are plenty of other drivers I would rather see in F1 in place of him.

Edited by bub, 12 May 2014 - 00:10.

No.

Car is starting to look pretty decent .... expect some good performances from him now as he has a lot of raw talent.

This will be his last season I think.

He may have won a race, but due to his lack of respect on and off the track he can go bring his GP2 antics somewhere else.

Edited by MikeV1987, 12 May 2014 - 00:18.

Yes, he's an embarrassment to the sport. There are plenty of other drivers I would rather see in F1 in place of him.

• Butchering classic circuits to suit their own rules when many smaller series use the same tracks
• Demanding millions of dollars for the prestige of having an F1 race and leaving the second dollars dry up, regardless of contracts or laws
• Promoting itself as the pinnacle of racing on the planet while producing some of the most boring racing on the planet, year after year
• Giving Ferrari prize money every year, just for being Ferrari, whilst at the same time trying to screw small teams that actually need the cash
• Harsher treatment of less-popular teams and drivers if they screw up compared to popular teams and drivers
• Openly stating penalties are more brutal if you screw up a popular driver's race than a backmarker's (FIA statement after the Grosjean Massacre at Spa)
• Lazily pandering to bullshit "green" initiatives when no matter what way you spin it, racing is never going to be about that at all
• Endless ****ery with the kinds of tyres they want, seemingly changing their mind every couple of months
• Cringeworthy podium interviews getting exponentially worse by the race
• Baffling stewarding decisions, inconsistent penalties, "Driver 99 looked at Driver 66, the incident is under investigation"
• Showing 15 replays of the start when nothing happened less than 10 seconds after DRS activation every single race
• Cutting away from on-track action 50 times a race to show a driver's girlfriend in the paddock (hey FOM, we've all got enough fap material by now, let's see some racing, eh?)
• Inventing DRS to pull a carpet over a hole in the floor by ignoring the invisible hurricane behind every car making it nearly impossible to pass
• Implenting DRS in the most bullshit way possible by having special zones for it instead of just copying IndyCar's fair and excellent (by comparison) Push-2-Pass system
• Writing the regulations in such a way that what should be some of the most stunning automotive creations mankind has ever come up with are instead just big carbon fiber penises with blender motors on the back
• Removing "lifetime" bans on cheaters who put their own greed in front of other people's safety
• Starting races under the safety car if it rained anywhere within 50 miles in the previous 2 months (changing car regs to deal with this problem is apparently beyond the engineering geniuses in F1)
• Rotating crew of guys who raced 20 years ago and possibly never even in F1 at all partly in charge of stewarding decisions by advising
• Robbing Kobayashi of his last-lap pass in China by some silly chequered flag rule, but it's a small team so who gives a **** about them, right?
• 65 years of waiting for people to die before changing rules that obviously needed to be changed
• Pretending to encourage wheel-to-wheel action while adding arbitrary points to a driver's license every time he farts too close to another driver
• Acting like a credible sport while routinely allowing criminals to finance teams, buy races, and exert their influence
• Routinely trying to screw over teams who do too good a job at winning races by introducing bullshit rule changes halfway through the season
• Completely failing to embrace the internet and refusing to provide basic web features other series have had for a decade or more
• Gouging fans for apps everyone else just gives away for free
• Charging 3 mortgage payments to attend a GP
• Requiring drivers to starve themselves to squeak under some arbitrary weight limit

But it's Pastor Maldonado embarrassing the sport.

Edited by Andrew Hope, 12 May 2014 - 01:19.

• Butchering classic circuits to suit their own rules when many smaller series use the same tracks
• Demanding millions of dollars for the prestige of having an F1 race and leaving the second dollars dry up, regardless of contracts or laws
• Promoting itself as the pinnacle of racing on the planet while producing some of the most boring racing on the planet, year after year
• Giving Ferrari prize money every year, just for being Ferrari, whilst at the same time trying to screw small teams that actually need the cash
• Harsher treatment of less-popular teams and drivers if they screw up compared to popular teams and drivers
• Openly stating penalties are more brutal if you screw up a popular driver's race than a backmarker's (FIA statement after the Grosjean Massacre at Spa)
• Lazily pandering to bullshit "green" initiatives when no matter what way you spin it, racing is never going to be about that at all
• Endless ****ery with the kinds of tyres they want, seemingly changing their mind every couple of months
• Cringeworthy podium interviews getting exponentially worse by the race
• Baffling stewarding decisions, inconsistent penalties, "Driver 99 looked at Driver 66, the incident is under investigation"
• Showing 15 replays of the start when nothing happened less than 10 seconds after DRS activation every single race
• Cutting away from on-track action 50 times a race to show a driver's girlfriend in the paddock (hey FOM, we've all got enough fap material by now, let's see some racing, eh?)
• Inventing DRS to pull a carpet over a hole in the floor by ignoring the invisible hurricane behind every car making it nearly impossible to pass
• Implenting DRS in the most bullshit way possible by having special zones for it instead of just copying IndyCar's fair and excellent (by comparison) Push-2-Pass system
• Writing the regulations in such a way that what should be some of the most stunning automotive creations mankind has ever come up with are instead just big carbon fiber penises with blender motors on the back
• Removing "lifetime" bans on cheaters who put their own greed in front of other people's safety
• Starting races under the safety car if it rained anywhere within 50 miles in the previous 2 months (changing car regs to deal with this problem is apparently beyond the engineering geniuses in F1)
• Rotating crew of guys who raced 20 years ago and possibly never even in F1 at all partly in charge of stewarding decisions by advising
• Robbing Kobayashi of his last-lap pass in China by some silly chequered flag rule, but it's a small team so who gives a **** about them, right?
• 65 years of waiting for people to die before changing rules that obviously needed to be changed
• Pretending to encourage wheel-to-wheel action while adding arbitrary points to a driver's license every time he farts too close to another driver
• Acting like a credible sport while routinely allowing criminals to finance teams, buy races, and exert their influence
• Routinely trying to screw over teams who do too good a job at winning races by introducing bullshit rule changes halfway through the season
• Completely failing to embrace the internet and refusing to provide basic web features other series have had for a decade or more
• Gouging fans for apps everyone else just gives away for free
• Charging 3 mortgage payments to attend a GP
• Requiring drivers to starve themselves to squeak under some arbitrary weight limit

But it's Pastor Maldonado embarrassing the sport.</p>

Edited by SR388, 12 May 2014 - 01:38.

Impressive list brother. Especially the camera cut to the girlfriend part. I about lost it when they cut to Nico's dime piece.

But let me ask you this, do you still tune in? You gotta vote with your wallet.

I watch every race I can. Spa 2009 was the last I missed and I still haven't got over it.

I'm not saying all that **** needs to be changed or that it's even a big deal, but you don't need a ton of imagination to realize F1 embarrasses itself on the regular. I just like to piss and moan sometimes and F1 makes it easy, but like every other chump I still set my alarm for 7am on weekends to watch rich kids drive cars. At this point, racing is a full-blown addiction.

According to a source*, he's actually employed by Bernie in order to spice up races. His job is safe.

*source being me, out of nowhere

*source being me, out of nowhere

For me his departure is long overdue .... 

No.

Walls need friends too, and he likes to meet a lot of them.

No, F1 needs his money wether we like it or not

No, F1 needs his money wether we like it or not

Are you sure, that to fix the cars he broke, his team's or others and armco, etc. is cheaper than to keep him?

seems like hes gotten worse with time, and its frustraiting as there is a good talent there

whats likely to eject him from f1 is either a replacement venzulian, or more likely his money gets pulled due to the civil troubles and shortages back home

 

• Butchering classic circuits to suit their own rules when many smaller series use the same tracks
• Demanding millions of dollars for the prestige of having an F1 race and leaving the second dollars dry up, regardless of contracts or laws
• Promoting itself as the pinnacle of racing on the planet while producing some of the most boring racing on the planet, year after year
• Giving Ferrari prize money every year, just for being Ferrari, whilst at the same time trying to screw small teams that actually need the cash
• Harsher treatment of less-popular teams and drivers if they screw up compared to popular teams and drivers
• Openly stating penalties are more brutal if you screw up a popular driver's race than a backmarker's (FIA statement after the Grosjean Massacre at Spa)
• Lazily pandering to bullshit "green" initiatives when no matter what way you spin it, racing is never going to be about that at all
• Endless ****ery with the kinds of tyres they want, seemingly changing their mind every couple of months
• Cringeworthy podium interviews getting exponentially worse by the race
• Baffling stewarding decisions, inconsistent penalties, "Driver 99 looked at Driver 66, the incident is under investigation"
• Showing 15 replays of the start when nothing happened less than 10 seconds after DRS activation every single race
• Cutting away from on-track action 50 times a race to show a driver's girlfriend in the paddock (hey FOM, we've all got enough fap material by now, let's see some racing, eh?)
• Inventing DRS to pull a carpet over a hole in the floor by ignoring the invisible hurricane behind every car making it nearly impossible to pass
• Implenting DRS in the most bullshit way possible by having special zones for it instead of just copying IndyCar's fair and excellent (by comparison) Push-2-Pass system
• Writing the regulations in such a way that what should be some of the most stunning automotive creations mankind has ever come up with are instead just big carbon fiber penises with blender motors on the back
• Removing "lifetime" bans on cheaters who put their own greed in front of other people's safety
• Starting races under the safety car if it rained anywhere within 50 miles in the previous 2 months (changing car regs to deal with this problem is apparently beyond the engineering geniuses in F1)
• Rotating crew of guys who raced 20 years ago and possibly never even in F1 at all partly in charge of stewarding decisions by advising
• Robbing Kobayashi of his last-lap pass in China by some silly chequered flag rule, but it's a small team so who gives a **** about them, right?
• 65 years of waiting for people to die before changing rules that obviously needed to be changed
• Pretending to encourage wheel-to-wheel action while adding arbitrary points to a driver's license every time he farts too close to another driver
• Acting like a credible sport while routinely allowing criminals to finance teams, buy races, and exert their influence
• Routinely trying to screw over teams who do too good a job at winning races by introducing bullshit rule changes halfway through the season
• Completely failing to embrace the internet and refusing to provide basic web features other series have had for a decade or more
• Gouging fans for apps everyone else just gives away for free
• Charging 3 mortgage payments to attend a GP
• Requiring drivers to starve themselves to squeak under some arbitrary weight limit

But it's Pastor Maldonado embarrassing the sport.

 

Although I disagree with a (very) few points in this, it's quite an impressive list. Thank god for LH, else I'd have stopped watching F1 a while back.

Back to the topic: It was time that PM left the sport, a while back. Now it's time he got booted out.

That list deserves its own topic. There are some seriously good points in there that would make a great wider discussion. 

Pastor should not leave the sport. Some driver he likes and respects should walk up to him and say: 'Pastor, you @$#&^%&%^*&^ git. Why don't you use the driving talent you have with the grey matter between your ears?'

It has been said before: many drivers make mistakes, but Pastor stands out in the way that he does not admit them, does not correct them, and finds new mistakes to make every race-weekend.

I think it is the sign of the times: drivers don't correct eachother anymore, and drivers have no fear at all to be not respected by their peers.

That list deserves its own topic. There are some seriously good points in there that would make a great wider discussion. 

There are loads of relevant threads (which I have listed in the following spoiler) with the exception of one for F1's global financial mass destruction via white elephant circuits in Turkey, Spain, Korea, India, etc.

I am not sure how we can sustain this thread as it seems to be designed to bash or degrade pastor.

I will state this. I am growing skeptical of his future in the sport because he has gotten worse and more reckless by the day after his 2012 win. Even more distressing the conflicts he is involved in do not seem to be based on pure carelessness. He seems to struggle with aggression and at times malicious behavior. The real question is at what point does Williams stop turning a profit off him? How many cars will be have to bin? The fia has no interest in levying heavy fines out for his antics, so it is up to his employers to look at the numbers and decide how they want to proceed.

I don't think that's an issue any more.

He's the Pedro Diniz of this era. 

He's the Pedro Diniz of this era. 

Eh.. no, Pedro Diniz was not the Pastor Maldonado of his time. Diniz was not, in his own, admission 'Gods gift to motorracing'. But he worked really hard at improving his skills in both the racing as in the mental department. In the end he was a very usefull racing driver. Not good, but he kept some reputed teammates honest.

Pastor is completely the opposite. He behaves as if he is one the established 'stars' of F1 already and ofcourse in Venezuala he is treated as such. On a human level the win in Barcelona was a terrible thing for him. He has got no incentive to improve on many levels, because he has already achieved what many drivers can only dream of.

[list]

• Butchering classic circuits to suit their own rules when many smaller series use the same tracks
• But it's Pastor Maldonado embarrassing the sport.

He might have WON a race

But so did Brambilla

Do you think of him any different!

Absolutely - but whilst he brings the money he does, he'll continue to find a seat.

He'll never learn.

Has he not considered a move into GT racing? His driving style seems to suit exactly how GT grids at the moment seem to be developing...

He is a baddie. We need more baddies in F1. When was the last time we had a villain in F1? Michael Schumacher before he became a good guy in 2010?

Plus his cash ensures Lotus F1's survival in the sport and in turn, many hundreds of people's jobs are saved.

I hate the 'OMG but he totally won a race' excuse.  There are exceptions to every rule.  Him winning a race was the exception, not the rule.

If it had been someone else rambo'ing people out the way for the last 3 years they'd be without a job, but because Pastor won a race he's beyond reproach

No-one's saying he's not got talent, but there's no point if he only shows it a few times a season.  If he didn't bring so much more money than others I have no doubt he wouldn't have an F1 drive right now.

Edited by Roscoe, 12 May 2014 - 11:11.

I think he's capable of performing at the same level as his teammate, but come on Pastor, when will you learn? He seemed to calm down in 2013 but then towards then end of the season the clumsy/reckless side of him came back and it seems to be here for good now. I think this season might be his last season, I can see the F1 paddock getting tired of him and even his money wont be able to get him a seat, unless he sorts himself out. 

This weekend seemed to be going alright as well up until Q1. Monaco next, while he's never finished the race he has always been strong here.

It's comical how many unforced errors and incidents with other drivers that he has...

Lotus can afford him (with all the money he brings) but other teams can't. Such a disappointment. 

he has actually WON a race don't forget.

So this is the only argument, which is still going for Pastor. And as the time passes by, the win becomes more and more a thing of distant past.

Possibly the worst or should I say "most incomplete" driver to win an F1 race for several decades.