Pastor Maldonado admits Williams have a lot of work on their hands to move up the grid after proving to have the third slowest car at Albert Park this weekend. The Venezuelan was an uncompetitive fifteenth when he spun off into retirement and is desperate for an improvement in Malaysia.
“It was a disappointing end to a difficult weekend for myself and the team. The car was not responding as we hoped in the conditions today and unfortunately I lost the back end and ended up in the gravel. We need to work hard to solve the problems in the car to be ready for the next race in Malaysia.”
Teammate Valtteri Bottas performed well on his debut to finish fourteenth although the pace of the car meant only Marussia and Caterham’s drivers were behind him. The Finn didn’t feel he could get any more out of the FW35 but hasn’t ruled out a better showing next weekend.
“I had a good start from my grid position and it felt great to be back racing again. A small mistake a few laps in cost me some places though. We got the maximum performance we could from the car today and although the pace isn’t there yet, there are still some positives to take away. The next race is only a week away, so we will work very hard to prepare as best we can and try to score our first points of the season.”
