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Pastor MALDONADO: THE MYTH AND CONSPIRACY THEORIES AROUND WILLIAMS'S LAST VICTORY

Around Williams' last victory in Formula 1 in 2012, a real myth was woven, wrapped in a veil of conspiracy theories.

That's when Pastor Maldonado surprisingly won on Grand Prix of Spain, after taking a pole position in the qualifiers quite unexpectedly. For the team Williams it was the first triumph after Brazil in 2004 and the last so far.

Until that racing weekend Williams FW34 in the 2012 season it wasn’t exactly a race car to win and even later it wasn’t. Therefore, in paddock quickly spread the assumption that Maldonado wins in Spain it was not exactly as pure as a tear.

Thus arose the conspiracy theory, according to which at Williams tricked everyone else with special tires and thus gain an advantage, all together under the knowledge of the then head of Formula 1,  Bernie Ecclestone, who wanted the founder of the team Frank Williams give a belated birthday present. A month earlier, it was Williams turned 70 years old.

Venezuelan racer Pastor Maldonado is still for her, who managed it with Williams.

This theory was further fueled by a fire that broke out in Williams ’pits after the race and destroyed all equipment, including tires. Malicious tongues claimed that the evidence was destroyed in this way. Alexander Wurz, then a consultant to Williams, he now made it clear that none of this was true. "They certainly didn't cheat," said the Austrian in an interview with ORF. “I was still part of the team at the time and Toto Wolff was with Williams at the time. That fire was really dangerous, it caused real devastation, ” he remembers Würz.

Würz The sudden improvement in form in Spain is explained as follows: “The car was very fast, because as a team we were the first to understand that we had to heat the front tire above the rim as well. We found this out during testing. ”

Alex Wurz rejects conspiracy theories regarding the use of special tires that would allow Ecclestone a gift for his friend Frank Williams ’70th birthday.

“We stood on the track and talked about the amount of air flowing through the rim and always cooling the tire. And they all had problems with understeer because of it. We were the first to find out, ” he says Würz and adds: "Ed Wood, our chief engineer, then quickly and successfully adjusted the operation of the brake cooling system."

“This is still a big topic, copying in Formula 1 - e.g. at Racing Point and Mercedes, ” notes Würz. “We were the first to find a solution, but then everyone copied it and Williams fell back. But we were also very fast in the race before and after Barcelona. ”

Nevertheless, the team did not more managed to approach success, achieved in Spain. Pastor Maldonado he has only scored three more points in the remaining fifteen races, but he is comforted by the fact that he is still the last racer to win with Williams.

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