Williams Chief Operations Engineer Mark Gillan admitted that the team still have work to do ahead of qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix on Saturday after rain disupted the second practice session today in Monte Carlo.
Nevertheless, Spanish Grand Prix winner Pastor Maldonado finished the day fifth on the timesheets ahead of team-mate Bruno Senna, who found himself thirteenth at the end of the day.
This morning we had a productive session with both drivers successfully working through their test programmes, but unfortunately the wet second session in the afternoon proved more problematic and limited useful running,” explained Gillan. “Both drivers were happier with the car balance in the second session but we still have quite a bit more to do in preparation for Sunday.”
Maldonado has won races before at this circuit, and is clearly still in a confident mood after victory in Barcelona. “The car is feeling really good this year and looks competitive in the running we have done today, so we're happy with that,” said the Venezuelan. “It’s a shame we didn’t get to run as much during the afternoon, as we would have liked to have gathered a bit more data on the tyres but we still have P3 on Saturday. I love this circuit and think it’s going to be a competitive Grand Prix.”
Team-mate Bruno Senna was clearly pleased that reserve driver Valterri Bottas was not given his car in FP1 this morning: : “It was great to be able to do both sessions today as it meant that we could learn bit by bit,” he said. “It’s been quite a few years since I drove something competitive here so it was good to have extra time to remember the track. We're chipping away and the afternoon session was hampered by the rain, but every little helps.