Formula 1: How Pastor Maldonado almost ended up driving for Ferrari

Pastor Maldonado, perhaps best remembered in Formula 1 for his habitual crashing, claims he almost joined Ferrari ahead of the 2014 season.

Pastor Maldonado, whose lone podium finish in 95 career Formula 1 starts was his shocking victory in the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix, is perhaps best remembered in the sport for what became his habitual crashing.

But according to the 34-year-old Venezuelan, that didn’t stop him from almost being signed to drive for one of the sport’s top teams.

Maldonado claims that he almost drove for Scuderia Ferrari in the 2014 season following his three-year run with Williams to begin his Formula 1 career.

Here is what Maldonado had to say about the matter in Formula 1’s Beyond The Grid podcast.

"“I was the only one, I was the new guy in F1. It’s like [Max] Verstappen at the moment. Like 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 firm PDVSA], of course. 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 find a solution to my career.“At some point we got very close to Ferrari. I was expecting the move at the time. 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.”"

As for why this did not end up coming to fruition, Maldonado pins that on the fact that Stefano Domenicali stepped down as team boss. Then later in 2014, president Luca di Montezemolo left the organization.

"“We lost the contacts and the communication and we focused on [elsewhere]. I’ve never been to Maranello but we had a few meetings at the track. I met Domenicali a few times and I met also di Montezemolo.”"