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Hugo Chavez Confirms Support for Pastor Maldonado

After Vitaly Petrov, it is now the turn of reigning GP2 Series champion Pastor Maldonado to benefit from political and governmental support from his native country. Earlier this week, the very president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, confirmed that the country's government is backing Maldonado's F1 efforts through state oil company PDVSA.

We are supporting Pastor Maldonado and his team through Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA),” president Chavez confirmed according to Europa Press.

It's no secret that Maldonado's deal with Williams F1 Team involved a lot of money, as the British team was in some serious need of funds at the end of the 2009 campaign. After releasing promising rookie Nico Hulkenberg of his contract, the Grove based organization confirmed the newly-crowned GP2 champion as official race driver for 2011.

However, in the press release confirming Maldonado as new Williams driver, the British squad made no reference whatsoever to a potential new sponsor brought in by the 25-year old Venezuelan.

I will be looking to get some good results in return for the support my country has given me to help get me to this position today,” revealed Maldonado in a press statement issued on December 1, hinting that he benefited from some important financial support in order to secure his F1 debut next year.

Williams is yet to announce in what way their new collaboration with PDVSA will reflect on the car's livery for 2011. For the time being, Frank Williams is yet to confirm Chavez' comments, but we're pretty sure a similar announcement will come from Grove in a few days time.
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