By Williams F1 Team
November 3 2013
| Williams Abu Dhabi GP Qualifying Review |
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Qualifying Notes • Pastor Maldonado qualified 15th with Valtteri Bottas 16th for tomorrow’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. • Both drivers had a clean lap in Q1, with Pastor finishing fourth quickest, but both struggled with traffic on their final runs in Q2 which cost them time. |
Pastor Maldonado: "I
had a strong Q1 but in Q2 I struggled with traffic and wasn’t able to
put a clean lap together, with the cars that crossed the line after me
benefitted from the increased rubber on track. We have made some updates
for this weekend and the car is feeling more consistent which will help
us tomorrow in the race, and overall I feel that we have made a positive
step forward."
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Valtteri Bottas: "I
was expecting that we would be fighting for a place in Q3 so I’m a
little disappointed. As the track conditions were improving other car’s
times were dropping but we were not able to benefit from that extra grip
as much. I was also held up by traffic on my final run which cost me a
few tenths. It’s not the best place to start the race but we know that
around this track we can be quite strong on long runs so I expect that
we will be able to move up tomorrow."
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Xevi Pujolar, Chief Race
Engineer: "In
FP3 we ran both cars with the development aero configuration tested on
Friday, and Valtteri felt more confident in the car. Pastor struggled
with lack of grip caused by the high track temperatures, which were over
50 degrees, but this improved with the cooler evening temperatures in
qualifying. Q1 went well for us with both drivers putting together good
laps despite it being difficult to manage the traffic whilst also
keeping the tyres up to the optimum temperature. In Q2 I don't feel we
got the potential out of either car as both drivers were hampered by
traffic, losing them a couple of tenths. Overall, we have reduced the
gap in terms of time to the teams in front, and with our race pace
looking consistent we will be pushing for a good result tomorrow."
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