The results of qualifying for the 2013 United States Grand Prix would see two vastly different results for the Williams F1 team and their drivers. Valtteri Bottas would finish a great ninth but team-mate Pastor Maldonado could only manage eighteenth.

the results would cause totally different reactions from both Valtteri and Pastor. For Valtteri he was of the view that he could have performed better and qualified higher. Had he repeated his Q2 time he would have finish seventh.

Valtteri said: "I think we really need to be happy about getting into Q3 because we have only been there once and that was in Canada in mixed conditions."

"But I have to say, in Q3 we could have done a few tenths better.

"The others picked up maybe more grip, and in one corner I lost quite a bit of time, looking at the data there was a bit of a gust of wind and I went wide because of that, so I'm not so happy about that.

"I think we lost one position because of that but we still need to be happy."

Valtteri was also of the view that the change that the team had made to the exhaust system produced an even bigger performance gain than it had in Abu Dhabi.

"We get more benefits here from that change than in Abu Dhabi," he said.

"In the corners where we are off the throttle the car is now more stable, so in the entries and mid-corner the car is more consistent rather than having some aerodynamic losses from the floor.

"Also, we gained a bit of straightline speed, which means we can carry a little more downforce that gives us some [more] grip.

"The main thing is the car is more consistent and more predictable to drive."

But for Pastor Maldonado his view of qualifying was one of how the team had hampered his chances. Maldonado was not happy with having being eliminated from Q1. He would tell television reporters that something 'strange' had gone on.

"I think on my car somebody is playing with the pressures or the temperatures," he said.

But Williams chief race engineer Xevi Pujolar put the difference in performance down to how the drivers had prepared the tyres out on track.

"Here everything was about the tyres," said Pujolar when asked by AUTOSPORT to explain what happened.

"And depending on how everything is happening on the out lap and how you handle the run - it can go very well or you lose it, because the grip is so low.

"In P3, the team were very close to have both cars the same, but in qualifying one car didn't achieve it. That is just how it is with the grip.

"You only need to lose a bit of confidence and then it looks much worse than it actually is. It is nothing more than that."

"In the way they started the lap there is a difference - but not because there was a mistake. It was just how everything came together. You need to do it [the preparation] in a specific way and it didn't work out."

Despite this Pastor still did not rule out the team deliberately doing something to hamper him. As he whether this was intentional Pastor added: "Maybe, maybe not."

"But I've never felt something like that [from the car].

"I drove for three years in the team and never felt something like that.

"The car is undriveable. It's very clear from the onboard [cameras] and the data where and when I'm suffering a lot on the track."

Maldonado said he had no explanation for why his tyres had been so difficult to get the best from in qualifying.

"I don't know why I am slow and they haven't told me what the problem is," he said.

"The car was doing nothing, turning more one side than the other - something really difficult to know.

"They are not the typical problems we've had through the season. It is something more."