Pastor Maldonado has insisted that he will remain with Lotus for next season, whether or not the expected Renault takeover of the team happens.
Amid rumours of him not being retained by the Enstone team Maldonado stated: “We have a contract until the end of next season, so it should be all OK whether Renault comes or not.
“They still want to work with me and that’s all the information I have.”
He also confirmed that his understanding is that he has a firm contract with Lotus for 2016 rather than the team simply having an option on his services.
Maldonado also was phlegmatic on that his future at the team is said to be uncertain.
“It’s normal, F1 is like this, it’s part of my job. We’ve been in this situation in the past. We’ll see.
“It’s looking good. There’s been a lot of rumour from your side [the media] but not from the team or from me.”
Maldonado also hit back at suggestions that the Venezuelan sponsor PDVSA had recently been late in making payments to the Lotus team: “This is totally false, I don’t know there this news was coming from.
“We [PDVSA] had start [sponsoring drivers] maybe more than ten years ago and it’s very easy to investigate the history of the payment of my sponsor in the different categories and they’ve been one of the most correct sponsors in the history of F1 and the whole motorsport.
“They never have any problems of payments in the past. I don’t see the case of they have problems now.”
