F1: Maldonado Looking Forward After Melbourne Shunt

Formula 1

F1: Maldonado Looking Forward After Melbourne Shunt

Pastor Maldonado believes the Williams car can continue to be competitive after a strong outing in Australia...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted March 22, 2012 Sepang (MAS)

Pastor Maldonado is in his second Formula One season. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Pastor Maldonado insists that he has put his costly Australian GP mistake behind him.

The Williams driver was heading for sixth place – the team’s best result for some time – when he inexplicably lost control and crashed out on the last lap.

“It was a difficult moment for me because I was fighting with Fernando,” Venezuelan Maldonado said, referring to Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso. “It was a great fight and very clean, and then on the last lap I get too close, I was on the curb on the wrong side of the track and I just lost the car. I’m disappointed for that because of the team result, but nothing to do. I’m looking forward, you know? It’s a new place and a new challenge.

“For sure, all the team – even myself – were a bit disappointed because we missed a great opportunity to score some important points, but this is racing. I think it was my mistake and now we need to look forward, turn the page.

“I think our car is competitive at the moment. We need to keep pushing like that, keep concentrated, keep working, focused. This is going to be a new challenge for us because the track is completely different, but we need to believe in our performance and hopefully we will again be in the top 10 and fighting for good places.”

He denied responsibility for the early clash with Romain Grosjean that put the Frenchman out of the race: “I think that I was completely in front. The overtaking maneuver was at the entry of the corner and I was quite surprised because the Lotus suspension seemed really fragile, because the contact was minimal and it was not intentional.

“It was a clear movement, so it was a bit disappointing for Romain because he did a very good job, especially in qualifying. The car even looks pretty strong, but this is racing.”
Maldonado is hoping that he can carry on his Melbourne form at other venues.

“I hope so. I think we did a great start to the season,” he said. “We’ve been working so hard from the winter just improving our performance in the car. I feel very confident with the team, so it’s looking forward. We can still be competitive, though it is early to say, but it’s a good start to the season and we’re looking forward, all of us in the team are pushing so hard, so we feel confident.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.