Maldonado rues ‘complicated’ start

Pastor Maldonado has once again lamented his poor luck at being "hit by other drivers" which has cost him at the start of this campaign.

Maldonado failed to reach the chequered flag in both the Australian and Malaysian GPs due to accidents.

But while in the latter, Malaysia, he was innocent, the jury is still out as to his opening lap shunt in Melbourne.

He also failed to finish the Chinese Grand Prix, this time due to a brake issue, while at the most recent race, Bahrain, he was a disappointing P15.

"It was a complicated start to the season, the first four races were tough," rued the Lotus driver. "It wasn't easy to be hit by other drivers for both Australia and Malaysia!

"I think we learnt a lot from the first two races however as we made a good jump in performance by the Chinese Grand Prix because we had learnt so much about our car.

"We are closer to our rivals, the teams we're targeting for the championship, and our race pace improved significantly. It's getting better and better."

The Venezuelan driver is now hoping for his first points of the campaign at this Sunday's Spanish GP, a race he won back in 2012 with Williams.

"Overall Catalunya is tough for the cars, drivers and teams because everyone knows the track so well and you have to fight for every thousandth of a second.

"The circuit has certainly been very good for me in the past, with the win in 2012 being the highlight.

"A top ten in qualifying will be our first focus and then it'll be a very tough race in terms of tyre management, with a lot of pit stops and strategy."

He added: "The aim is always to get 100 percent from the package, to know we've achieved the best possible. So a win might not be on the cards just yet but we are definitely able to fight for good points."