MOTORSPORT: Maldonado disappointed to exit (From Oxford Mail)

MOTORSPORT: Maldonado disappointed to exit

10:00am Monday 18th March 2013 in Sport

Pastor Maldonado was left bitterly disappointed after his race came to an end at the first turn on lap 25 of the Australian Grand Prix when his Grove-based Williams slid out.

The 28-year-old Venezuelan lost control of his car and it ended up beached in the gravel.

Maldonado said: “It was a disappointing end to a difficult weekend for myself and the team.

“The car was not responding as we hoped in the conditions today and unfortunately I lost the back end and ended up in the gravel.

“We need to work hard to solve the problems in the car to be ready for the next race in Malaysia.”

Valtteri Bottas moved up two places to finish 14th on his debut for Williams.

He added: “I had a good start from my grid position and it felt great to be back racing again. “A small mistake a few laps in cost me some places though.

“We got the maximum performance we could from the car and although the pace isn’t there yet, there are still some positives to take away.”

The teams now head for the Malaysian Grand Prix next Sunday.

And Williams technical director Mike Coughlan said: “It was good that Valtteri was able to bring the car home in his first race, but we have work we need to do now as a team to improve the performance.

“We have some ideas we are taking forward to the next race so we’ll be pushing hard in Malaysia.”