DOHA STOPOVER: Williams Formula One drivers Pastor Maldonado (L) of Venezuela, Valtteri Bottas (R) of Finland and test-driver Susie Wolff of Britain visit the Aspire sports academy in Doha. (Reuters)
By Mikhil Bhat/Doha
In 2012, in Barcelona, Williams F1 won their first race in eight years when Pastor Maldonado won the Spanish Grand Prix against all odds and expectations.
A year later, with three weeks to go for the race in Barcelona, the Venezuelan thinks the feat is difficult to repeat, especially with the aerodynamic troubles the car is facing. “This year it looks more difficult than last year, especially with the car,” Maldonado said after a tour of Aspire Dome in Doha yesterday. “It is difficult to say, but you never know...”
Maldonado, teammate Valtteri Bottas and the team’s development driver Susie Wolff were in Doha yesterday after a tricky race in Bahrain over the weekend. While Maldonado finished just outside the points zone at 11th, his Finnish teammate finished 14th owing to a problem in his pitstops.
The trio took a tour of the sporting facilities at Aspire Zone before heading to Qatar Olympic & Sports Museum’s exhibition, OLYMPICS – Past & Present.
The FW35 is powered by a Renault engine, which is the same as Red Bull and Lotus, the two teams that were on the podium in Bahrain on Sunday. The car has not faced major reliability issues considering Bottas has finished all four races and Maldonado’s race ended twice, but only because of a spin and a KERS issue in Australia and Malaysia respectively.
Aerodynamics is where the problem lies, says Bottas.
“The performance in Formula 1 comes from aerodynamics and that’s the area we need to work on,” Bottas said. “Some parts of aerodynamics development during the winter did not go as well as we expected it to. We really need to keep working in that area.”
Maldonado added, “The wind tunnel is working flat out at the moment. It looks like we have fixed the problem now. Now, we are looking for some logical solutions in a short time. It is never easy. You need time to improve.”
Both the race drivers were hopeful that the aerodynamic and mechanical upgrades, which are expected in Barcelona, will see an improvement in performance.
“We need to see how they perform on track (in race conditions),” Bottas said. “But we have high hopes. We know the direction, we know where we need to push. The season is very long, so we are working very hard to get there.”
“After Barcelona, I think we will have something new coming in every race, maybe not that big but something to help in the progress of the car. Finally, we should be able to fight for the points,” Maldonado added.
Maldonado, who made his F1 debut with Williams in 2011, said Williams has been through such difficult situations in the past and will only come out stronger.
“It’s disappointing to not get points at the moment. These situations make you stronger and give you inspiration to do your best. We are living in difficult times but this is not all. We have more than 400 people working to help us to improve our timings.”
