Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix will have provided Rob Wilson with a rare moment of satisfaction. The style in which Pastor Maldonado became Venezuela's first Grand Prix winner will certainly have pleased his coach. It also provides a template for young drivers to develop their skills and gain financial support.

It was eight years ago in Brazil that Williams F1 last took victory (courtesy of Juan Pablo Montoya). Sir Frank's eponymous squad has been in decline since it split from engine partner BMW in 2005 with a solitary pole position at the same Interlagos circuit in 2010 saying more about Nico Hulkenberg's skills in damp conditions than the speed of the British team's cars.

While never the most popular person in the paddock, former chairman Adam Parr is credited for a reorganization which, at the very least, has given the team a simplified style of operation this season.

Its 2012 car, the FW34, looked reasonably competitive in the four races so far this year. It was apposite, with the Williams family in attendance, to celebrate the patriarch's 70th year, that Maldonado should qualify on the front row. Even better when he inherited pole position after the exclusion of Lewis Hamilton, whose McLaren had insufficient fuel to return to the pits.

Maldonado is not a complete stranger to starting (or finishing) at the front, but his career has not followed a consistently upwards trajectory in the style of Hamilton or Hulkenberg, who usually finished at the front in the junior formulae.

For example, Maldonado was embroiled in controversy at Monaco in 2005 after seriously injuring a corner worker having failed to slow down sufficiently for yellow warning flags. Maldonado then spent an unusually long four years in GP2. Eventually, in 2010, he added his name to the F1-feeder series roster of champions alongside those of this year's Chinese GP winner, Nico Rosberg, Hamilton, Hulkenberg and Timo Glock.

These credentials helped the then 25-year old secure a seat with Williams for the 2011 season. But it came at the expense of Hulkenberg - and in parallel with the arrival at Williams of Petrleos de Venezuela S.A. as a significant sponsor. Understandably (and only fueled by Parr's disingenuous insistence that the events were not linked), Maldonado was considered by many to have bought his seat.

His resilience under race-long pressure from double world champion Fernando Alonso will help silence Maldonado's doubters. It should also reduce criticism of PDVSA's financial support of Venezuelan drivers and perhaps encourage similar programs by state-owned enterprises in other countries, especially for drivers prepared to spend days practising with Wilson (as Pastor still does) on a windswept aerodrome in the UK.

After a successful career on the track, Matthew Marsh now works at JMI - the world's leading motor sport marketing company. He can be reached at mmarsh@justmarketing.com.

(China Daily 05/17/2012 page23)