Formula 1 News

Williams: 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix preview 

Pastor Maldonado: “After a difficult start to the season in Melbourne, I’m more than ready to get to Malaysia. Despite the result in Australia, I am now feeling more confident with both the car and within the team. Sepang is a very technical circuit, but I already know the track as I raced there in the 2009 GP2 Asia race, finishing second. I think that we will be able to get more performance out of our car there as there is a lot of potential if we keep working hard. Looking ahead, our objective is to continue to improve race after race. I would like to be in the top ten in both qualifying and the race, and I think we can achieve that. Of course, it would have been better if we had been able to finish the race in Melbourne, but the positive is that I’m now more experienced and feel confident with how a Formula One weekend unfolds and all the procedures involved.”

Sam Michael: “Sepang is dominated by two high-speed corner combinations as well a number of slow-speed corners. There are three long straights at Sepang so set-up is geared towards those high speed sections as efficiency is well rewarded. We expect the moveable rear wing to have a greater influence on overtaking here, even more than it did in Australia. We have some aero upgrades for the front end of the FW33 that we will be bringing to Malaysia, while we will also have some improvements on the KERS together with solutions for the transmission issues we experienced in Melbourne. It will be interesting to see how the FW33 performs on this medium to high-speed circuit. Our target for the race is to finish with both cars in the points.”

Rubens Barrichello: “Malaysia is a really nice place to visit and a track that I really enjoy racing on. It is a real test for the drivers though due to the heat and humidity. Malaysia will be hard on the tyres so it will be important to have a good car set-up. I am looking forward to getting there and to driving on such an incredible track. I hope to do well and my aim is to bring home some points.”

source: Williams