Formula 1

Williams 'not far' from top teams - Maldonado

GMM

Edited: Mar 21, 2012, 12:44 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Pastor Maldonado, Williams F1 Team

Mar.21 (GMM) From the depths of 2011, Williams is now 'not far' from the pace of F1's strongest teams.

Pastor Maldonado, Williams F1 Team

Photo by: xpb.cc

That is the claim of Pastor Maldonado, who in the newly Renault-powered and Mike Coughlan-designed FW34 qualified eighth and was pushing Fernando Alonso for fifth in the race when he crashed out of Sunday's season opener in Melbourne on the last lap.

It indicated a major turnaround for the formerly championship-winning team that collapsed to a dismal ninth place in last year's points standings.

Venezuelan Maldonado hopes last Sunday was indeed the start of a Williams resurgence.

He said this weekend in Malaysia "should be interesting".

"McLaren and Red Bull look strong, but we are not far away," he is quoted by Finland's Turun Sanomat.

"We were very close to (Red Bull's) Mark Webber in the first and second stints," said Maldonado.

I think we are faster than Ferrari, Sauber and Force India

Pastor Maldonado

"I think we are faster than Ferrari, Sauber and Force India," he added.

Maldonado's last-lap crash in Australia cost Williams a full ten points -- double the team's tally of the entire 2011 season.

"We need points in the future," he acknowledged, "but we are also now more relaxed now."

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Raikkonen to be 'surprise of season' - de la Rosa

Next article Mercedes suspects Red Bull using 'illegal trick' - report

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Denny Hamlin calls NASCAR title comeback “unrealistic” after Martinsville

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Martinsville II

2 min

Denny Hamlin calls NASCAR title comeback “unrealistic” after Martinsville

Fred Vasseur reacts to Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc clash: “It’s a matter of respect”

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

2 min

Fred Vasseur reacts to Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc clash: “It’s a matter of respect”

How Ferrari's loss became Max Verstappen's gain at F1's Mexico GP

Formula 1

Mexican GP

How Ferrari's loss became Max Verstappen's gain at F1's Mexico GP

Carson Hocevar refutes claims he intentionally spun at Martinsville

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Martinsville II

26 min

Carson Hocevar refutes claims he intentionally spun at Martinsville

Feature

Discover prime content

How Ferrari's loss became Max Verstappen's gain at F1's Mexico GP

Formula 1

Mexican GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

How Ferrari's loss became Max Verstappen's gain at F1's Mexico GP

The seven moments that defined Kimi Antonelli's F1 title win in 2026

Formula 1

Mexican GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

The seven moments that defined Kimi Antonelli's F1 title win in 2026

Why lap times in Mexico have been so much closer to the previous F1 era

Formula 1

Mexican GP

By Stuart Codling

Why lap times in Mexico have been so much closer to the previous F1 era

The fine margins that cost George Russell pole in Mexico

Formula 1

Mexican GP

By Stuart Codling

The fine margins that cost George Russell pole in Mexico

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts