Maldonado denies any rift with Williams

Pastor Maldonado has played down talk of a rift between himself and Williams – and he insists that he will still be in F1 next year.

Doubts have been cast over the future of PDVSA-backed drivers after some problems in Venezuela.

“Rumours about my relationship with Williams and vice versa are completely false,” he wrote in a series of Tweets. “There is a good relationship between driver and team. We have been working hard day and night to improve our performance and results. Unfortunately this is F1, there are good years and bad, I think we’re not the only ones who have gone through difficult times in terms of results.

“Similarly, we have shown that even after non-competitive performance we did not give up and won’t give up until the last race.

 “About my future – I will be in F1 next season proudly representing Venezuela. Hopefully good news soon.”