Pastor Maldonado is confident once he enj❀oys a trouble-free Grand Prix he can put his Lotus in the points, after suffering two retirements from two💦 races in 2015.

Despite an impressive start off the starting grid, the Venezuelan was involved in a first-lap incident with Williams driver Valtteri Bottas. The collision saw Maldonado suffer a punctured rear and forced him into an early pitstop, putting him dead last. Once he re-j🐼oined the race, the Lotus driver began to fight has was through the pack but was forced to retire nine laps from the end with brake problems.

Maldonado has endured a miserable start to 2015, with his failure to finish in Sepang compounding the disappointment he suffered at the Australian Grand Prix when he crashed at the second corner on ♌the firsꩲt lap of the new season.

The Venezuelan racer has now faile💙d to finish in the first two races in four of his five Formula 1 seasons, str🎃etching back to his time with Williams, whom he made his Formula 1 debut with in 2011.

However, the former F1 race winner is certain if he can hꦯave a clear race he will be a🐭ble to steer his Lotus E23 Hybrid into a top-10 finish.

"As soon as we have a clean race, we will be fighting for good points," Ma🐭ldonado said. "The potential is clearly there, especially in the race where the car pace is very competitive and we can score good poin🉐ts.

"Unfortunately, there was an incident on the first lap which lost me a lot of time and𝔍 compromised the race from then on. Despite dropping to the very back of the f🦩ield, we switched to a different strategy and we recovered well."

Maldonado explained he was forced to retire for the second Gran🔜d Prix in𓄧 a row after suffering brake problems midway through the race.

"Unfortunately, we suffered from a brake issue, which isn't gr🗹eat but it's effectively our first race and we need to keep working throug♕h issues, ready for the next Grand Prix," he said.