Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsLotus F1

Lotus confirms Maldonado for 2016

Lotus has confirmed Pastor Maldonado will remain with the team for the 2016 season.

Maldonado joined Lotus at the start of 2014 on a multi-year deal, but his position had been uncertain as Renault closes in on a takeover deal. However, Lotus has now confirmed Maldonado will remain with the team next season, and team principal Gerard Lopez says he has full faith in the Venezuelan.

“It’s a positive for the future of Lotus F1 Team that we are able to confirm publically that Pastor remains with us for next season," Lopez said. "Everyone at Enstone will testify that Pastor is a terrific person to work with and we all know the performances he is capable of on track.

"Pastor joined us with a multi-year deal so this confirmation is a reiteration of our belief in him. We hope to be able to make further positive announcements regarding the team in the near future.”

While Maldonado's future is confirmed, F1i has learned Romain Grosjean will leave Lotus for Haas at the end of the season.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.