Williams plans to fight at the forefront

Pastor Maldonado had already caused a sensation by taking the first row of the grid at the Circuit de Catalunya. Lewis Hamilton was a cut above the competition yesterday afternoon, but the pilot McLaren was downgraded by the stewards after having to stop on the track. The Venezuelan thus won his first pole in F1, the first for his team since that obtained by Nico Hulkenberg at the 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix, and intends to play for a place at the forefront even if his hopes of victory remain slim with the F2012 of Fernando Alonso and the two E20s of Romain Grosjean and Kimi Räikkönen in ambush.

Mark Gillan, the head of engineering operations Williams, admits that victory will be a difficult goal to achieve but that a good result will still be expected. “A victory will be tough, but based on our speed in practice, we will clearly be in the race. We have improved the car Generally speaking, we are not only focused on qualifications. If we progress in qualifying, we also progress in the race. We were happy with our pace on Friday and we were confident for today. The changes are not huge, but the smallest differences make big differences when the gaps are tight. »