The future of Maldonado in Formula 1 is threatened

« Not a dollar more for motorsports »

The new Minister of Popular Power for Sport, Antonio Álvarez, made a shocking statement this Monday, May 19th. “I know I will make enemies,” he said during an interview with the newspaper Últimas Noticias, “but there won’t be an extra dollar given for motorsport.”

At 35, Antonio Álvarez is a former professional baseball player and a tropical music singer. He is very active in the social and anti-racist movement. He promotes non-violence and social support, particularly through sports, for children, impoverished populations, and incarcerated individuals. « Venezuelan sports have other priorities, and it would be unfair to use state resources on disciplines that are not in line with the country’s sports development. »

After his defeat in the municipal elections of the city of Sucre, in the north of the country, President Nicolás Maduro chose him to lead the new sports policy. This policy is focused on the overall strategy of the new leader: repatriate all the capital to use the funds for the country. The second reason is that the state is out of money and it is considered inappropriate to pay several million dollars to athletes.

Money as the only support?

Other Venezuelan drivers could suffer from this policy. Last year, Ernesto Viso was the victim of a financial scandal he was not involved in. His IndyCar career was compromised after PDVSA withdrew from the Andretti Autosport structure.

In Formula 1, Rodolfo González, reserve driver for Marussia F1, sensed the wind coming. He has already bounced back in endurance racing with the Murphy Prototypes team. The young Samin Gomez, seen in GP3 last year, did not convince her investors. The same goes for Milka Duno, dropped by a PDVSA subsidiary. Her North American adventure continues in ARCA (the equivalent of NASCAR) with the support of a Venezuelan telecom company, CanTV, which is also nationalized.

As for the young GP2 hopeful, Johnny Cecotto Jr, he proudly celebrated a victory in Spain, early May, “without PDVSA’s millions!”. However, one of his title sponsors is the state-owned company CanTV.

If most of these drivers have multiple sponsors and should remain in competition, Pastor Maldonado has reason to worry. PDVSA has not yet made an official announcement, it is unknown whether the withdrawal of the Venezuelan company will occur at the end of the contract with team Lotus or during the year, especially if Maldonado were to lose his last F1 license points and be excluded from a Grand Prix.

It is hard to see how the driver would stay in F1, after his mishaps and poor results, without a significant financial contribution. Rumors suggest 35 million euros per year paid to the English team.