[Bradley Downton]

Hugo Chávez, the president of Venezula, has passed away. I know there’s a connection between him, PDVSA and Pastor Maldonado, but I’m not entirely sure what it is.

Do we think this could have any affect on Pastor?

[James_mc]

I was wondering this. The farcical thing was a supposedly left-wing president pouring money into the most capitalist sport in the world…..1

[Bradley Downton]

This is what I was thinking. I’d heard somewhere that the main reason PDVSA sponsored Pastor was something to do with Hugo

[Magnificent Geoffrey]

As much as I don’t like Maldonado because of some of his on-track brain fades, I think he proved at Catalunya last season that he deserves to be on the Formula 1 grid regardless of how much sponsorship he has.

[RagingInferno]

I would have thought it would still be in PDVSA’s interests to keep supporting Maldonado given the exposure he brings, and he’s proven that he’s a race winner.

[tmekt]

@james_mc

The farcical thing was a supposedly left-wing president pouring money into the most capitalist sport in the world…..1

Well there aren’t really that many top-level sports that you can pay yourself into I think.

I really doubt though that this will have much effect on Maldonado’s career because in the end he is quite fast. I don’t know how many years PDVSA have left on their contract but I don’t see Williams abandoning Maldonado any time soon.

I do wonder though that if Williams was to do that, would any team be willing to hire Maldonado without money?

[bag0]

@magnificent-geoffrey
While I agree with you, you shoud remember that the Hulk was dropped because of the lack of sponsorship (or to get more money from Pastor and Bruno). I think nowdays if you cant bring money or marketing value to a team you cant race.

[Gaston]

Well, many things would need to happen first for Pastor’s sponsorship to be endangered. Elections are likely to be held soon, and Vice-President Maduro (i.e. Chávez’s dauphin) will most likely handily win. So, no danger for Maldonado there.

[Alex green]

I had him in my dead pool on a different site next up thatcher please :)

[Anonymous]

@golarrazabal

Elections are likely to be held soon, and Vice-President Maduro (i.e. Chávez’s dauphin) will most likely handily win. So, no danger for Maldonado there

Well I for one, hope that that isn´t the case… Maybe the oposing party could win if the the elections where truly democratic…. the thing is that the oficialism is going to commit fraud once again thus giving Maduro… an ex bus driver, the precidency which would suck for the Venezuelans…
Elections are to be held 30 days later after the death of the president according to the Venezuelan constitution. I sincerely hope things turn the other way in that country…

Regarding Pastor… well, I don´t think Maduro would back him any more…. Chavez was a lot smarter by backing Pastor and giving Venezuela a lot of exposure.. but this guy is probably want to keep the money that is being poured into williams and keep it for himself…
Anyways… It´s not right to be happy for someone´s death but, I hope this finally puts an end to that odious regime… Enough already with the hate and the envy… just get to work for yourself and don´t expect handouts I say…

[Mathers]

@JB I know that it isnt right for a country to be ruled this way, but why is it bad for an ex bus driver to become president? If they truly are voted in democratically, then that should be of no significance, and if is not a democratic decision, then a bus driver is no worse or better than a billionaire. I agree with the remainder lf your comment, but I cannot look beyond this when reading it.

[Anonymous]

@mathers

why is it bad for an ex bus driver to become president? If they truly are voted in democratically, then that should be of no significance

I guess you think it´s right for a person that at most has an education no higher than high schooler at most to lead a strong nation?? Would you feel comfortable if a cab driver that just made it to sixth grade was teaching your son at school?? I´m not trying to rag on the profesions since ANY type of work is honorable but I strongly feel that for some things(leading a country for instance) you need to have a certain degree of education and knowledge.
And I´m sorry but you would be very gullible if you think that they are elected “democratically”… It´s like saying that elections in cuba are democratic…. The party in power stays in power… especially the way they have fixed everything up to favour them…
Please… drop the whole issue… I am from a Latin American third world country and I know the reality of these things… not just what I see in the news. European Nations and the US are democratic but not in these countries in which popularism is used to perpetuate themselves in power. Trust me, they tried to do the same thing in my country and Chavez was behind the whole thing so personally, even I though I know it´s wrong to be happy for his death…. deep inside of me, I know that the latin america will be better off with that guy 6 feet under….

[Mathers]

@JB As I said, if they were chosen by the people of the country to be leader, I would have no problem. I agree that there is no way that it would be democratic, but reading your initial comment it seemed to me that it was the fact an ex bus driver could get into power that was an issue. Apart from that, I totally agree. I thought the main aim of a democracy was that everyone can have a voice, and if it so happened that the collective voice chose somebody less educated then so be it. I am fully aware of the fact that this is unlikely to happen in a fair election.

[Author]

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