Budapest's Q&A with Pastor Maldonado
Posted on Friday 29 Jul 2011
With less than a week since the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, Pastor Maldonado has had little time to prepare for this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix. But our rookie is bullish about his chances at one of his favourite circuits.
What are your hopes for Hungary?
I love the Hungaroring. It’s one of my favourite tracks on the calendar; it’s very difficult, both mentally and physically, and the weather looks as though it will make it a complicated weekend. The forecast is very unsettled.
Would you agree that the Hungaroring is like Monaco, but without the walls?
It’s a high downforce track, like Monaco, but it’s not the same because it’s a much more open circuit. There is run-off in Hungary, but you’re in the wall in Monaco if you make just the slightest mistake.
How competitive do you think the FW33 will be at the Hungaroring?
We will work hard to have a good weekend. The car is more competitive in qualifying than in race conditions and the goal is to close the gap to the top teams on Sunday afternoons. The car works better on the soft and the super-soft tyre, which should help us here because that is the tyre allocation, and we need to manage the situation carefully. Too often this year our strategies in the races have been governed by high tyre wear.
We’re at the halfway point in the year. How would you sum up your progress in 2011?
It’s gone okay, but I think I can improve more in qualifying and the race. I’ve learnt quickly and some of that is thanks to Rubens, who’s a very competitive driver and very logical in terms of his driving style. He’s taught me about how to work with the engineers and we like the same things from the car, which is good. He’s also very friendly, which means we have a very good atmosphere in the team.
Going into the August break, how important is it to score a world championship point?
I’m going back to Venezuela during the break, so it would be great to go back home with some points in the bag. It’s not going to be easy because the medium-paced teams are very competitive and very close, but I think we can do it.
Credit: Williams F1 (www.williamsf1.com)
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