Driver Pastor Maldonado
Chassis / engine FW32-01 / CA221
Location Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi. 5.554km / 3.451 miles
Objectives Aero testing, baseline and familiarisation runs
Weather Warm and clear all day
Air & track temps 30ºC / 38ºC

Pastor Maldonado made his debut for the AT&T Williams team after a day testing for HRT. He spent the morning doing aerodynamic work but went faster in the afternoon, lapping three quarters of a second off Rubens Barrichello's qualifying time from last Saturday. He would have a problem in the afternoon when a sensor warning forced a precautionary shutdown of the engine.

Tom McCullough, Senior Test Engineer
We’ve had a productive day with Pastor. He covered a lot of mileage, just under 450km, while helping us with our aero tests. Unfortunately, we had a reliability problem at the end of the day which prevented him from running the soft tyre, but overall it was a positive session during which time we’ve gathered plenty of data..

Pastor Maldonado
Today was another great experience. We had to do a lot of slower speed aero set-up work today so I couldn’t really push it, and I didn’t get a run of the soft tyre either, but I’m pleased with the work I’ve done. I’m getting lots of track time this week, which is improving my confidence in the car.

AT&T Williams will be back on track on Friday 19 November with Rubens Barrichello piloting the FW32.

PASTOR MALDONADO - BIOGRAPHY

Nationality Venezuelan
Date of Birth 9 March 1985
Career Highlights
2010 GP2 Championship, Series Champion: 6 wins, 2 poles
2009 GP2 Championship, 6th overall: 2 wins
2008 GP2 Championship, 5th overall: 1 win, 5 podiums, 2 poles
2007 GP2 Championship, 11th overall: 1 win, 2 podiums, 1 pole
2006 Formula Renault 3.5 Series, 3rd overall: 3 wins, 6 podiums, 5 poles
2005 Italian F3000 Championship, 9th overall: 1 win (from 4 starts)
2004 Italian Formula Renault 2.0 Series, Series Champion: 8 wins, 6 poles
European Formula Renault V.6 Series, 8th overall: 2 wins
First Formula One test with Minardi F1
2003 Italian Formula Renault 2.0 Series, 7th overall: 3 podiums, 1 pole
2000 Formula Renault Winter Series, Series Champion
1993 – 1999 Karting: Winner of 4 regional & 3 national Venezuelan Championships

Born on 9 March 1985 in Maracay, Venezuela, 25 year old Pastor Maldonado’s career path has followed a traditional route by motorsport standards. By the age of seven, Pastor was racing karts in Venezuela’s junior championships and, by the time he’d reached the tender age of 15, had already secured 8 titles, including Renault’s Winter Series. A move to Europe in 2003 ensued in order to contest the Italian Formula Renault Series. Three podiums and one pole placed him seventh overall at the end of his first season in Formula racing.

Remaining in the same series for a second season allowed Pastor to develop his skills and drive past the competition to eight wins and six poles making him the clear title winner that year. A dominating season was rewarded with recognition in Formula One circles when he was called to test for the Miranda F1 Team over the winter.

2005 was a disjointed year for Pastor. He competed in just four races in Italy’s F3000 Championship (enough to be ranked ninth overall) and then nine events in the Spanish World Series by Renault with a best place finish of seventh.

A more rewarding year followed in 2006 when Pastor finished third place in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series with three wins, six podiums and five pole positions. Pastor’s talent was quickly acknowledged by GP2 and a seat for 2007 was confirmed over the winter. His first season was marked by highs and lows. After sealing a clear victory around Monaco, the celebrations were soon clouded by a broken collarbone, fractured while training, which put him out of action for four of the final rounds and out of the top ten in the final championship order.

Having made a full recovery over the winter, Pastor returned to GP2 in 2008 where he has remained for the past three seasons. Diligently honing his race craft over the time spent in Formula One’s main feeder series has seen Pastor take a total of ten wins, nine podiums, four poles and a Best Rookie Award. The ultimate prize came at the end of the 2010 campaign when Pastor’s season culminated in title honours at the penultimate race of the season at Monza.

More information can be found at www.pastormaldonado.com

  DRIVER      	 TEAM 		 TIME      BEST / TOTAL LAPS
1 D Ricciardo    Red Bull Racing 1:38.102  74 / 77
2 J d’Ambrosio   Renault 	 1:38.802  82 / 83
3 S Bird 	 Mercedes GP 	 1:39.220  75 / 82 
4 G Paffett 	 McLaren 	 1:39.760  82 / 84
5 J Bianchi 	 Ferrari 	 1:39.916  85 / 93
6 S Perez 	 BMW Sauber 	 1:40.543  90 / 91
7 P di Resta 	 Force India 	 1:40.901  25 / 27
8 P Maldonado 	 AT&T Williams 	 1:40.944  59 / 81
9 J-E Vergne 	 Toro Rosso 	 1:40.974  14 / 61
10 Y Buurman 	 Force India 	 1:41.178  48 / 67
11 D Valsecchi 	 HRT F1 Team 	 1:43.013  31 / 32
12 L Razia 	 Virgin Racing 	 1:43.525  58 / 70
13 J Kral 	 HRT F1 Team 	 1:44.143  60 / 61
14 R Gonzalez 	 Lotus Racing 	 1:44.312  40 / 41
15 V Arabadzhiev Lotus Racing 	 1:45.723  47 / 49