Williams insiders always complained that one F1 race winner never ‘listened’ to feedback

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Williams Racing are hoping that the upcoming regulation changes will see them return to the front of the grid for the first time in decades.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Williams were one of the powerhouses of Formula 1.

The likes of Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve all won championships with Frank Williams’ team.

However, they haven’t won a constructors’ championship since 1997, and last won a Grand Prix in 2012.

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Carlos Sainz impressed by securing two podiums for Williams in 2025, and Alex Albon finished as the best of the rest below the top teams last year.

One of the pillars that team principal James Vowles has built the modern Williams on is collaboration.

Sainz has been praised for his feedback since he joined from Ferrari, but one driver was less helpful when it came to listening to staff at Williams.

READ MORE: All to know about Williams Racing from team principal to Mercedes ties

Williams insiders moaned that Pastor Maldonado never listened to feedback

The last driver to win for Williams was Pastor Maldonado at the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix.

Talking about the Venezuelan’s one and only Formula 1 victory on the Autosport Podcast, journalists Damien Smith and Kevin Turner spoke about his remarkable upset.

Smith said: “I mean, credit to the guy. He drove a fantastic race that day.

“I mean, that’s the thing. That is why the surprise still lingers.

“I actually thought there were times when Maldonado was respectable. There were lots of mistakes, but he’s quick.”

Turner replied: “But there are people at Williams that say, well, the reason they won is because that was the one race he listened to them, did what they said.

“And after that, he thought he was the bee’s knees and never did anything ever again, which is probably a bit simplistic.

“But what they would say is he executed the race, didn’t he? And that’s what they would say now with a strategy, because Alonso got ahead of him, and he got back past by undercutting him and then held him off.”

READ MORE: Where are they now? The top ten from Pastor Maldonado’s only F1 win at the 2012 Spanish GP

How did Pastor Maldonado win the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix for Williams?

Maldonado spent three seasons racing for Williams at the beginning of his F1 career, before joining Lotus in 2014.

In that time, he only finished in the points on 13 occasions, and never returned to the podium after his victory at the Circuit de Catalunya.

He managed to reach the final part of qualifying while teammate Bruno Senna was eliminated in Q1 and ended up on pole position.

However, Lewis Hamilton was excluded despite setting a faster time, and Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button and Kamui Kobayashi all failed to set a lap.

During the race, Maldonado was unstoppable, keeping Fernando Alonso behind him for the entirety of the Grand Prix.

Maldonado is one of five drivers in F1 history to win every race he started from pole position, although his victory was marred by a huge fire that engulfed the Williams garage after the race.

Nobody was seriously hurt, but Williams will want to make sure that the next time they finally taste victory again, a similar incident doesn’t occur in the aftermath.