Saturday report: Williams – We hoped for better

The Williams team was undoubtedly hoping for a better result to start this Australian weekend. Barrichello made a mistake in Q2 which likely cost him a spot in the final top 10, and Maldonado has to settle for a 15th place.

Optimism remains paramount in the English team, which will aim for points in tomorrow’s race.

Pastor Maldonado – 21st and 15th:

Everything went well in Q1. On my first set of tires in Q2, I encountered two yellow flags, with the second one I had a big flat spot and had to abort my lap.

The session was exciting! We need to improve a bit, but the car is good and I am optimistic. I am looking forward to tomorrow’s race and I think points are achievable.

Rubens Barrichello: – 16th and 17th:

«Today was unlucky. I made a mistake, I went wide and spun. We have to wait and see what our pace is, but it was faster than I thought. Another positive point is that we preserved our tires for tomorrow, which could be important.

Sam Michael – Technical Director:

« We had a difficult day and although we need to improve, the final result does not reflect our true pace. With Pastor’s spin and Rubens’ oil problem, the mileage during practice was significantly reduced, forcing us to be conservative in some of our setup choices for the race. »

Tomorrow we will try to score points with both cars. It will be interesting to see the rear wing in action and lead to some great overtakes.