By David Galton-Fenzi
It is a
question I have been asking myself a lot lately. You don’t need to dig too deep
on the internet to find message boards flooded with vitriol towards the
Venezuelan, but why is it so raw, so passionate? Well I think I know the
answer, because I feel it too.
Maldonado came
into the league branded a pay-driver, yet many of us felt this was unfair. You
don’t win GP2 by accident so everyone who knew something about racing knew this
was a guy who had speed, someone who could do the job. Sure he came with a lot
of money behind him, but so does Fernando Alonso, so we perhaps felt the need
to defend him, to embrace him even and wait for him to prove himself, and us,
right.
His rookie
year was a bit of a disaster, but that was nothing to do with Pastor. The FW33
was a complete tractor, and Maldonado measured well against an experienced team
mate like Barrichello. He definitely did enough to justify another year in the
sport. Of course he had his run in with Lewis at Spa, but we all justified it
by blaming it on his Latin temperament, and Pastor justified it by taking a
points finish on a true drivers track the very next day. “See!” we all said,
“He can drive, just give him time.”
