The FIA has given Pastor Maldonado permission to start the Australian Grand Prix, despite the Lotus driver failing to set a time.
The Venezuelan suffered numerous issues on Friday, but he did manage to complete some running during Saturday morning’s FP3 session.
That, according to the race stewards, was enough to warrant his inclusion on Sunday’s grid.
In a statement, the stewards said they “grant permission for car 13 Pastor Maldonado to start the race given that [he] set satisfactory times in practice.”
![Isack Hadjar [pictured] has deferred to Max Verstappen for Day 2 of the F1 pre-season test. Image: Red Bull Content Pool](https://www.motorsportweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Isack-Hadjar-Red-Bull-test-2026-120x86.webp)
Maldonado explained that Lotus weren’t ready to send him out at the start of qualifying when it as dry, so they gave up when the rain began.
“They were not ready with the procedures and we were not ready to leave the garage as soon as the green light was on,” he said.
“Then during the out lap I had a problem again so I stopped and I wasn’t waiting for a long time while they fixed the problem.
“Then when I came back out on track it was raining and that’s it, game over.”
![Isack Hadjar [pictured] has deferred to Max Verstappen for Day 2 of the F1 pre-season test. Image: Red Bull Content Pool](https://www.motorsportweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Isack-Hadjar-Red-Bull-test-2026-350x250.webp)
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