12 months ago, Williams F1 Team driver Pastor Maldonado was soaring on a high. He was a hero back home in Venezuela after he crossed the line at the Circuit de Catalunya to register his first, and so far only, Formula 1 victory.
It was a stunning and controlled drive at the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix which proved many critics wrong. However the previously described "erratic" and inconsistent Pastor of old returned just two weeks later at the Monaco Grand Prix.
The street circuit is one that has found success and controversy for the 28-year-old. Back in 2005 he visited the famous street circuit for just the second time for the Formula Renault 3.5 championship.
It was a weekend to forget for Pastor after he outrageously failed to slow for yellow flags whilst marshals recovered a car. He struck one of the marshals, seriously injuring him. This resulted in a four race ban and a ban racing at the Monte Carlo circuit for life. This was over ruled after his wealthy father agreed to pay for the marshals recovery and rehabilitation, Germany's Bild reported.
Maldonado was probably hugely thankful for the overruling, as for his next four visits to the track for GP2 between 2007 and 2010, he finished on the podium at each race weekend (winning it twice).
So he is regarded as a Monaco specialist despite the early troubles, and in 2011 he looked to be on route for a fifth place finish in his debut season for Williams. However it was not to be after an overambitious move by Lewis Hamilton tapped him into the wall at Ste Devote. That result would have been hugely welcome to the team as Maldonado only scored one point over the whole season.
So up until the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix we had only seen the odd flash of speed, with a fair few arguably ridiculous and erratic moves (crashing into Hamilton on purpose during qualifying for the 2011 Belgian Grand Prix for one). That one race weekend 12 months ago really showed his true form and 2012 overall was a much better season for him, particularly in qualifying. He often started well but got caught up in too many fights, there was still the erratic streak but we saw a far more controlled Maldonado than the previous year.
However, that streak was no more evident two weeks after his win at the Circuit de Catalunya. Plenty of people expected highly of him going into the weekend, particularly due to his good track record in GP2. It was not to be, an utterly disastrous weekend for him where he went from hero to zero.
Thursday practice was pretty straightforward, he got a good amount of running in and was feeling confident prior to the final practice session on Saturday and Qualifying. However, what we saw during that final 60 minute session was pure Johnny-Ceccotto ridiculousness, I could not believe my eyes.
We know that he has that Latin-American hot head at times, but this was purely stupid and shocking. During practice and as he exited the Grand Hotel Hairpin he felt Sergio Perez (the car ahead) held him up on his hot lap. Fair enough, but to be honest traffic is always an issue in Monaco and particularly during the final session where it gets very busy.
Perhaps he could have gone to the stewards or talked to Perez about it. No. What did he do instead? He drove clean into Perez, swiping across him as the Mexican slowed to let him past before the tunnel. It was a shocking and stupid move that wiped all respect I had for him after the Spanish Grand Prix away, at the time anyway.
The Williams driver was rightfully given a 10-place grid penalty for the incident and also a 5-place grid penalty for needing a change of gearbox, caused by a crash on the following lap at Casino Square.
So he started last on the grid, a stark contrast to two weeks earlier where he was on pole position. His weekend went from bad to worse at the first corner when he ran into the back of Pedro de la Rosa's HRT, dislodging his front wing and causing the experienced de la Rosa to retire.
Pastor tried to continue but he eventually found the barrier just a few corners later at the Grand Hotel Hairpin, ironically where he felt Perez had held him up during practice. He retired from the race and that pit an end to his disastrous race weekend.
After the soaring highs of Spain, he hit a new low in Monaco. In 2013 the Williams looks to be slow but should go better at the Monaco track, especially as Maldonado is known to be so good there despite the two poor weekends in 2005 and 2012.
However Pastor's driving has been more mature this season even though he did do a rather rookie spin in Australia. No points on the board yet but Maldonado continues to show a positive attitude, which I'm a big fan of, and has continued to show his potential against rookie team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
So a weekend to forget last year in Monaco, but looking forward he will certainly have learnt his lesson this year.
 |
| (c) Octane Photographic |
The street circuit is one that has found success and controversy for the 28-year-old. Back in 2005 he visited the famous street circuit for just the second time for the Formula Renault 3.5 championship.
It was a weekend to forget for Pastor after he outrageously failed to slow for yellow flags whilst marshals recovered a car. He struck one of the marshals, seriously injuring him. This resulted in a four race ban and a ban racing at the Monte Carlo circuit for life. This was over ruled after his wealthy father agreed to pay for the marshals recovery and rehabilitation, Germany's Bild reported.
Maldonado was probably hugely thankful for the overruling, as for his next four visits to the track for GP2 between 2007 and 2010, he finished on the podium at each race weekend (winning it twice).
 |
| (c) Octane Photographic |
So up until the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix we had only seen the odd flash of speed, with a fair few arguably ridiculous and erratic moves (crashing into Hamilton on purpose during qualifying for the 2011 Belgian Grand Prix for one). That one race weekend 12 months ago really showed his true form and 2012 overall was a much better season for him, particularly in qualifying. He often started well but got caught up in too many fights, there was still the erratic streak but we saw a far more controlled Maldonado than the previous year.
However, that streak was no more evident two weeks after his win at the Circuit de Catalunya. Plenty of people expected highly of him going into the weekend, particularly due to his good track record in GP2. It was not to be, an utterly disastrous weekend for him where he went from hero to zero.
Thursday practice was pretty straightforward, he got a good amount of running in and was feeling confident prior to the final practice session on Saturday and Qualifying. However, what we saw during that final 60 minute session was pure Johnny-Ceccotto ridiculousness, I could not believe my eyes.
We know that he has that Latin-American hot head at times, but this was purely stupid and shocking. During practice and as he exited the Grand Hotel Hairpin he felt Sergio Perez (the car ahead) held him up on his hot lap. Fair enough, but to be honest traffic is always an issue in Monaco and particularly during the final session where it gets very busy.
Perhaps he could have gone to the stewards or talked to Perez about it. No. What did he do instead? He drove clean into Perez, swiping across him as the Mexican slowed to let him past before the tunnel. It was a shocking and stupid move that wiped all respect I had for him after the Spanish Grand Prix away, at the time anyway.
The Williams driver was rightfully given a 10-place grid penalty for the incident and also a 5-place grid penalty for needing a change of gearbox, caused by a crash on the following lap at Casino Square.
So he started last on the grid, a stark contrast to two weeks earlier where he was on pole position. His weekend went from bad to worse at the first corner when he ran into the back of Pedro de la Rosa's HRT, dislodging his front wing and causing the experienced de la Rosa to retire.
Pastor tried to continue but he eventually found the barrier just a few corners later at the Grand Hotel Hairpin, ironically where he felt Perez had held him up during practice. He retired from the race and that pit an end to his disastrous race weekend.
 |
| (c) Octane Photographic |
After the soaring highs of Spain, he hit a new low in Monaco. In 2013 the Williams looks to be slow but should go better at the Monaco track, especially as Maldonado is known to be so good there despite the two poor weekends in 2005 and 2012.
However Pastor's driving has been more mature this season even though he did do a rather rookie spin in Australia. No points on the board yet but Maldonado continues to show a positive attitude, which I'm a big fan of, and has continued to show his potential against rookie team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
So a weekend to forget last year in Monaco, but looking forward he will certainly have learnt his lesson this year.
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