Maldonado and PDVSA would bring 45 million to Williams
Williams' main sponsor, the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA, is said to have contributed more than $45 million to the team to retain its driver Pastor Maldonado.
Leaks on the Internet allegedly revealed the $45 million invoice that PDVSA would have paid to the Williams team as part of the sponsorship contract linking the two parties.
The members of the Venezuelan Congress, represented by Carlos Ramos, have requested, according to the laws in force in their country, that the government demonstrate complete transparency on the contracts and transactions between PDVSA and the Williams team.
The government did not take this request into account, but nevertheless, a copy of the contract between the two parties appeared on several websites.
The payment of this invoice would guarantee Pastor Maldonado’s presence until 2015 within the Grove team, with the transaction amount increasing year by year to reach up to 60 million dollars.
This contract would be to the advantage of the Williams team, as stipulated in Article 5.3: « Once a candidate has been designated and appointed by Williams, their appointment can only be terminated by Williams. »
This is what leaves the door open for the team to part ways with Maldonado in case of disappointing performances while retaining PDVSA’s funding until 2015.
Which makes the Venezuelan the most expensive pay driver in the history of Formula 1. With another significant funding brought by Bruno Senna, the Williams team does not seem to have had any difficulties in closing its budget for the year 2012.
However, the amount of this contract could create tensions between the Venezuelan government and the oil company… at Williams’ expense.
