Williams mechanics will leave Hungary patting themselves on the back after performing their fastest ever pit stop at today’s Hungarian Grand Prix, while driverBruno Senna will be celebrating a hard-fought seventh-place finish.
In fact, the only person likely to leave Hungary disappointed is Pastor Maldonado, who finished thirteenth after a bad start and a drive-through penalty given to him after he caused a collision with Paul di Resta.
“I am pleased for Bruno who had an excellent race and the six points are a very welcome boost for the whole team going into the August break,” said Mark Gillan, the Williams Chief Operations Engineer. “Pastor had a poor start off the grid which compromised his race. He then pushed hard with good pace but received a drive-through penalty for his overtake on Di Resta. I’d like to thank the pit stop crew who did very well today, with our fastest ever stop.”
Senna was obviously delighted with his result, which was not easy to come by today.
“Today was a nice race,” said the Brazilian. “We pushed very hard on the strategy to make it work especially as the track conditions and the weather were very different from what we were expecting, so I’m happy with the team and I hope we can carry this momentum on. There were a lot of battles for me and it was hard it keep the tyres alive because the temperatures were so high, but it’s good to start in ninth place and finish in seventh. I think this is a turning point for us. The race was good, it was a fun weekend, the team are happy and the break is now welcome as it will be a chance to rest before we continue to push in the second part of the season.”
Maldonado, understandably, was not as happy:
“It was a difficult race today,” said the Venezuelan. “I had a bad start and lost a lot of positions which compromised our race from the beginning. It was hard to keep good pace in the traffic and then we also had to serve a drive-through penalty. I was on the limit racing Di Resta when I locked the brakes and lost some grip, but I was on the inside of the corner and so there was some light contact. We had to concentrate on tyre management today and we gathered a lot of information for the future. We weren't as competitive as we have been, but we now need to work hard to focus on the second part of the season after the summer break.”
