Saturday: Maldonado and Williams aim for a top 10 finish
The Williams team was rather pleased with their qualifying session today, even though the highest-placed driver – Pastor Maldonado – is only 13th on the grid. The Venezuelan believes he has a good car for race conditions and therefore expects a good battle to climb back into the top 10 and score some additional points. Rubens Barrichello, on the other hand, is perplexed and doesn't quite know what to expect for tomorrow.
Pastor Maldonado – 17th and 13th
The track improves lap after lap; today it was important to be on track at the right time. My engineers managed to find a good strategy, and the setup of my car was good. We’ve had a good pace in the last races, we’re close to the top 10, so we’ll fight tomorrow to score points!
Rubens Barrichello – 18th and 15th
I was happy with the balance of the car on my first set of tires and I posted my best time. When I put on a new set of tires, the car felt different and I didn’t have as much grip, which was strange. We should have a good race tomorrow; our rivals seem close, so we’ll see.
Mark Gillan – Track Operations Engineer
Overall, it was a good day for our two drivers who did some great things. Pastor managed to maximize the current performance of the car and qualified in 13th position, with Rubens just behind in 15th place.
