Maldonado to Lotus: A good choice for both team and driver?

Pastor Maldonado has been confirmed to replace Kimi Raikkonen at Lotus for the 2014 season.

One of the most talked about seats for 2014 has been filled. Lotus have confirmed that Pastor Maldonado will drive for them alongside Romain Grosjean. While the decision may surprise a few people, the person who lost out in the silly season merry-go-round was Nico Hulkenberg.

A highly talented driver missing out on a drive with the top teams yet again. So now that the dust is settled the point of contention is how would Maldonado and Lotus benefit from the association? Can Maldonado replace his 2013 successor Kimi Raikkonen?

Let’s take a look.

Pastor Maldonado – Money can take you places

It will be interesting to see how well does Maldonado handle the pressure at Lotus.

It’s no secret that the biggest reason behind the Enstone team hiring Maldonado is the cash injection that the driver gets in terms of sponsorship from the Venezuelan Oil-giant PDVSA(rough estimates have it at $ 50 million). But on the flip side if the sponsorship deal is to be left out Maldonado has a decent CV for his cause. The Venezuelan was the surprise winner for Williams at the Spanish GP and had decent performances in China(8th), Abu Dhabi(5th), Japan(8th) and USA(9th). 2013 however wasn’t as promising with a single point finish at Hungary. He is also won the GP2 Series in 2010.

However, his accusation at the US GP that Williams had sabotaged his car(tyre temperature and pressure) during the qualifying wasn’t well received by Formula One pundits and fans alike. It was probably an outburst of emotions as his teammate Valterri Bottas outperformed him in qualifying and eventually in the race. But one thing that was quite prominent from the accusation incident that the 3-year old relationship between Williams and Maldonado had reached a new low and the reason for him to actually look for a new team. Williams, however, played down the incident and choose not to speak ill of their outgoing driver and stood by their work ethics and team bonding.

In Lotus, Maldonado finds a top-four car for 2013 and definitely an upgrade from Williams. But with the new rules and regulations remain a shot in the dark for Lotus and every other team on the grid. Maldonado would also have a fiery teammate to handle in Romain Grosjean, who was in sublime form in second-half of the 2013 season, and clearly with Raikkonen out of the team will take up the number one driver seat at Lotus. For Maldonado 2014 at Lotus will be the year of pressure and performance, after-all replacing a driver like Raikkonen is no child’s play. How well he handles both will be quite an interesting site.

Lotus – Is it a Gamble?

Eric Boullier, Team Principal- Lotus, has quite a task up his sleeve of handling Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado in 2014.

With the cash funding talks not materialising with Quantum Sports, prospective sponsors of Nico Hulkenberg(who was the preferred driver for 2014), Maldonado remained the obvious choice considering that Lotus desperately needed the funding. There remains hardly any doubt that Hulkenberg is a step above Maldonado considering his performance has been unmatched at Sauber.

The move to prefer cash over skills and talent might back-fire if the Venezuelan does not gel with the team considering he didn’t seem to be a team player at Williams. Grosjean will lead the charge at Lotus for 2014 and things are expected to flare up if Lotus do not give Maldonado a similar treatment.

It will also be interesting how team principal Eric Boullier would handle things in case of crisis.

While the decision to hire Maldonado seems to be a necessity given the scenario, whether Lotus will regret or celebrate the decision will be proportionate to Maldonado’s performance on and off-track for the 2014 season.