Pastor Maldonado - Photo Credit: Williams F1
Pastor Maldonado's last lap accident denied Williams the points which their promising pace deserved in today's Australian Grand Prix. The Venezuelan was challenging Fernando Alonso for fifth when he lost control on the exit of turn six on the last lap, costing him what would've been a career-best result, and felt there was nothing he could've done to avoid hitting the wall.
“The car looked good today. Our pace was quick and consistent and we were looking competitive right up until the moment I had on the last lap, which is very important. Unfortunately, I just lost the back of the car while pushing Alonso and I had nowhere to go.”
Teammate Bruno Senna was involved in contact at the very first corner with Daniel Ricciardo and a subsequent collision with Felipe Massa ended his race six laps early. The Brazilian simply felt he was out of luck and feels confident for Malaysia.
“I had a great start, but I tried to take the outside line at the first corner and I felt someone make contact with me. I then had to do an extra pit stop which made things difficult. My race was looking better but then I had a tangle with Massa so luck wasn't on our side today. That's racing though, and we now look forward to making up for it in Malaysia next weekend.”
Chief Operations Engineer Mark Gillan chose to focus on the positives and is delighted with the step forward the team has made over the winter in terms of pace.
“Whilst the end result was disappointing for the team, we are all very pleased with the significant performance improvement of the FW34, with the car showing both good qualifying and race pace. We will now regroup and look forward to delivering a strong performance in Malaysia next weekend.”
