Williams, Gillian: “Maldonado showed class”

Mark Gillan, head of track operations at Williams, comments coldly on the Spanish race which saw the Grove team return to victory after eight years, thanks to the extraordinary performance of its top driver, Pastor Maldonado.

“This is a fantastic result for Williams and of course it's incredibly beautiful, especially considering the tribulations of the 2011 season.”, explained the English engineer. “However, it is the result of continuous improvement and it is important that we continue to work towards results. Pastor's performance was simply splendid, he showed class from start to finish. He was strong all weekend, winning the race from pole despite a challenge from Alonso. You can't ask for more from a pilot. We were still confident that the FW34 was a valid car that had improved greatly with the updates, but obviously you never know what the other teams would bring, so we were also surprised by our competitiveness.". Williams has demonstrated, unlike the other teams except perhaps Lotus, that it knows how to manage the tires better. This was the key to the Venezuelan's surprise victory, capable of doing 25 laps on his latest set of tyres. Gillian continues: “Tire degradation was the key to the race, so a long final stint was a calculated strategic decision, but we were quite confident based on our data from Friday that this length would be possible and we took the gamble to win the race competition".

However, at the end of the race, during the awards ceremony, a terrible fire broke out in the Williams garage, destroying much equipment and damaging Bruno Senna's car. Gillian explains the damage: “I would like to reiterate our thanks to everyone in the paddock who helped the Williams team put out the fire. There have been a number of people who have been treated at the circuit's medical centre, mostly as a result of smoke inhalation. One team member remained in hospital with burns, but he is in a stable condition, in good spirits and returned to England today for further medical treatment. Investigations into the true cause of the fire are underway, in collaboration with local authorities and the FIA. The extent of the damage is still being assessed and will not be fully clear until both cars and equipment are back at the factory. What is clear is that in our garage equipment and infrastructure have been severely damaged. Despite this, we go to Monaco with high hopes, but there is a crazy amount of work to do before the race to repair the damage suffered in the fire.", concluded the Williams crew chief.

Lorena Bianchi