Maldonado was a target for a Campos Meta seat in . Campos team principal Adrián Campos said that Bruno Senna's team mate could be Pedro de la Rosa, Vitaly Petrov or Maldonado, but the team's financial problems and change of ownership changed the situation, and Karun Chandhok got the drive. It was then reported that Maldonado was close to signing a deal to be test and reserve driver for the Stefan Grand Prix team, which attempted to compete in the 2010 season following the withdrawal of the US F1 Team, which left a theoretical space for another new team. Stefan was barred from competing in the 2010 season.