(Jean-Michel Le Meur/DPPI)
Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado believes that he made the right decision to join the Lotus F1 Team over the winter after leaving the Williams team.
Speaking ahead of his debut for the Enstone team Maldonado said that he very happy with the progress of the E22 when he saw it for the first time in the windtunnel. He believes that the new car looks fantastic the best on the grid.
The 2012 Spanish Grand Prix winner has endured an extremely difficult time with his new team as the E22 has suffered countless reliability issues and the team even missed the first test of the winter as they elected to continue to develop their new car. It is in star contrast to how the team started the 2013 Formula One season.
Maldonado replaced Kimi Raikkonen who has joined Ferrari from this season. The Finn took a surprise win in the opening race of the season last year in Melbourne, Australia and at this stage the Lotus F1 Team certainly do not look to be in a position to be challenging for race wins.
Maldonado's former employers on the other hand have had one of the most successful pre-season testing periods. Their new car, the FW36 is extremely reliable and has one of the best power trains on the grid as they have secured a long term partnership with Mercedes.
Having said goodbye to Maldonado and his sponsorship money from PDVSA the team have welcomed a number of new sponsors to their portfolio such as oil giant Petrobas and have also secured a long term title sponsorship deal with Martini. The Grove based team certainly appear to be one of the most prepared outfit's on the grid for Sunday's first race of the season in Melbourne on Sunday.
©Ben Johnston 2014
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