Williams were left disappointed after a qualifying session at Sepang where they struggled to repeat the competitiveness they had shown earlier in the weekend.
Pastor Maldonado failed to make it out of Q1 and will start the race from 18th, while Rubens Barrichello will start 15th.
Despite their poor speed in qualifying, Technical Director Sam Michael says the team is aiming for points from the race.
“That certainly wasn’t the qualifying session we were aiming for,” said Michael, “but we struggled to get more out of the FW33 today. Tomorrow’s race will be interesting, whether that's due to potentially wet weather or the number of pitstops made in the dry. Our focus is to score points.”
Barrichello said: “We don't seem to have the pace we need in qualifying. We were stronger in Melbourne and so we need to analyse why and see where we are in the race. All things considered, my lap was ok, in fact it was probably one of my best laps around Malaysia but it wasn't good enough to counteract the performance of the car today. Whether we get rain or a steady run in a dry race we'll be going for points.”
Maldonado added: “We don't seem to have the pace we need in qualifying. We were stronger in Melbourne and so we need to analyse why and see where we are in the race. All things considered, my lap was ok, in fact it was probably one of my best laps around Malaysia but it wasn't good enough to counteract the performance of the car today. Whether we get rain or a steady run in a dry race we'll be going for points.”
