A transcript of an interview conducted by the Williams F1 team with Pastor Maldonado on the second day of the teams Jerez test.
Q
& A Pastor Maldonado Jerez Test Day Two
Q:
Impressions of the car?
PM: So the car I was quite impressed from yesterday. Today I can reconfirm
that. We did nearly all our program, nearly a hundred laps. so I am very
happy for that. Everything was working good in the car and we were
progressing during the day.
The feeling is positive, everything is good. The car feel compact with the
engine, gearbox everything so I am looking forward.
Q: What about the car balance?
PM: The car balance is really stable ah for sure we need to improve. We did
a couple of tests in terms of setup but there is a lot of freedom to
improve. We are very optimistic.
Q: No understeer or oversteer?
PM: Very neutral car so happy for that as well. For sure We need to keep
pushing to analyse more the car with the different compound. But ah I can
say that the car is very compact, we tried some hard compounds and today
soft and mediums and I can
understand the car, the car is easy to understand. There is a lot of windows
to improve. It is easy to drive , ah very neutral not too much oversteer or
understeer..
Q: Can I ask a little bit more on tyre wear. Do you long runs on the
medium, did it drop off very quickly. How did the car use the tyre?
PM: I was quite surprised today with the longer run.
Q: How many laps was the long run?
PM: Nearly twenty. I was very consistent, so I was very happy with that.
Even the tyres look pretty consistent, which is important to know for the
races in the future.
Q: That was a big progress from last year?
PM: Yes I am happy for that. At the beginning of last year we were
completely in a bad situation in terms of durability and consistantency.
Q: There was a few niggly problems yesterday, that they needed to be
resolved, had they been resolved?
PM: No problem today. We had just stopped to check the car at midday. There
were no problems we just wanted to check the car. When
everything is new it is easy to have issues.
PM: We are analysing the difference between the last year and this year but
I can say that we are happy with the improvement. Today we have more
experience with the car. The car is responding well to changes, adapted to
my driving style. Everything is positive.
Q: In which way is the car changed from last year?
PM: The car is completely different. It is more stable under braking. Even
in the quick corners it is really stable.
Q: You never run on lower fuel
PM: We were always in a good range of fuel.
It does look like we have gotten the tire degradation under control.
Pastor is right regarding the consistency of the 20 lap stint as compared with last year.
Such consistency out of the box is encouraging !!!
It would be marvelous if we could get Sauber-like tire degradation this year.
"For sure" Pastor ain't the easiest guy to transcribe. Fortunately, F1 folks are all used to very different accents and I'm sure there are no major communication problems with the engineers.
I remember Alonso in Minardi... boy talk about thick accent !!!
I'm especially encouraged by the car's stability in fast corners. Hopefully it's a car to refine and improve throughout the season, instead of one to fix and ultimately stash.
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