Pastor Maldonado impressed by new FW34 after topping the day – Formula 1 news
Pastor Maldonado believes that the FW34 has shown good progress in the build up to the upcoming season.
Maldonado drove his way to the top on the third day of the second pre-season test.
“We've improved a lot,” Maldonado said. “The car is getting better and better every day, especially because we didn't have any issues in the car. So as you see we are always doing more than 100 laps every day which is very positive for the factory to have
many laps to analyse and see the data. So I'm pretty happy.”
“The car looks competitive; much better than last year's car for sure. Everything is working - engine, gearbox, aero of the car, mechanically - so, it's not a perfect car,” he added.
Bruno Senna and Valtteri Bottas ran the car on the first two days of the test and Maldonado took over on Thursday. The Venezuelan impressed from the word go and set the fastest time of the day. Still the car requires some updates as Senna complained that
the car needs to improve in corners.
Maldonado after the day ended said that after the car is tweaked a bit more it is going to be a really good package and the team is really hopeful of a good season ahead. He further mentioned that the car looked competitive and drastic improvement from its
predecessor. It is very sound mechanically and though it is still not perfect but it is a good base.
Williams had a poor season in 2011 as the team suffered poor results throughout the season. At the end of the season the veteran driver Rubens Barrichello was dropped in order to bring in a better option. Bruno Senna was selected to replace him. Barrichello
sees the replacement as a financial benefit decision more than skill, but from the last season’s performance it was evident that the 19 years of F1 experience was finally coming to an end.
It will be interesting to see how Williams take this positive initiative into the 2012 season. The season begins on March 18, 2012 with the Australian Grand Prix.
Tags: