Pastor Maldonado, who started this year as No 1 driver with the Williams Formula 1 team, has joined Lotus for next season.

The Venezuelan, who had becoming increasingly frustated at the lack of success by the Grove-based outfit in the past 12 months, indicated that he wanted to leave.

The 28-year-old, who is being replaced at Williams by Felipe Massa, earlier this month claimed he was “happy” to be leaving Williams, believing he had delivered more to them than they had done for him.

He joins Lotus after three difficult years at Williams, where the obvious highlight was his surprise victory in the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix.

“It is a fantastic opportunity for me to join Lotus F1 Team for 2014,” said Maldonado, who will be paired with Romain Grosjean after the Frenchman was retained for a third season.

“It’s no secret that I have wanted a change of scene to help push on with my Formula 1 career and Lotus F1 Team offered the very best opportunity for me to be competitive next season.

“The regulations and cars will change significantly so it is a very good time for a fresh start. I can't wait to be racing in black and gold.”

Maldonado has been handed the opportunity to prove he is as good as he thinks he is after signing a deal to race for the Enstone-based team in 2014.

He replaces Ferrari-bound Kimi Raikkonen.

Cash-strapped Lotus have been forced to move for Maldonado given he continues to be heavily sponsored by Venezuela’s state-owned oil and gas giant PDVSA.

Although Nico Hulkenberg was team principal Eric Boullier’s first choice, that was only on the proviso Lotus tied up a deal for the Quantum Motorsports consortium to take a 35 per cent stake in the team.

Boullier said: “We are convinced that we’ll be able to provide the environment to enable him to flourish.”