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The men behind Maldonado

Pastor Maldonado has cut an impressive figure so far during his rookie Formula 1 season, but the Williams driver has not ironed out his rough edges on his own, as Edd Straw found out

Pastor Maldonado hasn't made an impact on the scoreboard during his nine-race Formula 1 career. But that's not to say that the Venezuelan rookie has been a failure, despite the baggage that bringing money to the Williams team lumbered the GP2 champion with. He has looked far from out of place in F1 and although his remarkable drive at Monaco - where he was bundled out of sixth place by Lewis Hamilton late in the race - is the highlight, there have been other very promising signs.

Take his qualifying performances compared to his veteran team-mate Rubens Barrichello. Five times he has outqualified the Brazilian and since the Spanish Grand Prix, where Maldonado first made the top 10 shoot-out that is Q3, it has been the younger Williams driver who has usually shown the better single-lap speed. In a season during which Williams has scored a scant four points, the promise shown by Maldonado has been one of the positives.

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