Ex-Formula 1 driver Pastor Maldonado expected to join Ferrari, suggesting he was seen in a similar vein as Max Verstappen.
The Venezuelan raced for Williams and Lotus over a five-year stint on the grid and was known mostly for three things, his financial backing, his crashes and his win at the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix.
Even now, Maldonado remains somewhat of a cult favourite and speaking to F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast, claimed his GP2 triumph in 2010 had risen his stock among teams.
“I was the only one, I was the new guy in F1,” he said.
“It’s like Verstappen at the moment or Robert Kubica at his time. I was the guy at the time. People were coming to me, they were happy to talk to me, and they were happy to discuss me.
“What was not clear was the relationship with the sponsors [Venezuelan oil company PDVSA], of course,” he noted.
“It was a lot of conflict of interest against the sponsors and we were negotiating about that. My sponsors were open to maybe not to be on the car or be with another company, they were open to finding a solution to my career.”
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By the end of 2013 though, Maldonado was looking for a way out at Williams, eventually signing for Lotus who needed the financial help at the time.
But that only came after he says contact ended with the Scuderia.
“At some point, we got very close to Ferrari. I was expecting the move at the time,” he claimed.
“That was my time. It was the moment to have a second chance, not to fight to try to show [my ability] every day because it was impossible.
“We lost the contacts and the communication and we focused on [other options],” Pastor added on why talks broke down.
“I’ve never been to Maranello but we had a few meetings at the track. I met [Stefano] Domenicali a few times and I met also [Luca] Di Montezemolo.”
Ferrari would change a driver for 2014, with Kimi Raikkonen replacing Felipe Massa, whether Maldonado was a serious option beforehand though, we’ll likely never know.