PDVSA, Maldonado not leaving Lotus - Lopez

Team owner Gerard Lopez has added his denial to reports Lotus could be set to lose its new lucrative PDVSA backing.

The Enstone team secured the deal with the state Venezuelan oil company when Pastor Maldonado moved over the winter from Williams.

In Monaco, however, Maldonado had to deny reports that his PDVSA backing will end, after the Venezuelan sports minister said he will allocate "not one dollar more" to motor racing due to a scandal.

He said the media story about PDVSA pulling out was a "very big misunderstanding", because the comments were made by the sports minister, not the oil company itself.

"PDVSA, as with Maldonado, is staying with us," Lopez, the founding partner of the Lotus owner Genii, is quoted by the Swiss newspaper Blick.

"In Venezuela, it is this company (PDVSA) that has the final say, not the government," he insisted.