Manager hints at Sauber talks for Maldonado

Pastor Maldonado’s manager has refused to deny rumours he is in talks about a race seat at Sauber for 2011.

Earlier this year, the Venezuelan GP2 driver was linked with Pedro de la Rosa’s place at Sauber, and more recently it emerged the 25-year-old’s main sponsor PDVSA is pushing for a presence on the formula one grid.

Maldonado, who came close to signing with Stefan GP for the 2010 season, is managed by Felipe Massa’s manager Nicolas Todt.

When asked about the Sauber rumours, Frenchman Todt answered: “I don’t want to go into details, but obviously I’m talking to a few teams about next year for both drivers.”

The other driver referred to by Todt in the 422race.com interview was Jules Bianchi, a front-running GP2 driver who has a development contract with Ferrari.

Todt-managed Bianchi is currently recovering from a back injury sustained in the recent support-race in Hungary.

But Todt, boss of the GP2 team ART and the son of FIA president Jean Todt, said it is possible Bianchi will be on F1’s 2011 grid.

“Jules is still young, he has two years of open wheels behind him, which is very little, but he is a very big talent and if he has the chance to do formula one next year, he has to take it,” he said.

Todt was also asked about the lingering rumours about his plans to merge his GP2 team with an existing F1 outfit.

“It’s still very early and it’s hard to say,” he answered.

© RIF | GMM