Maldonado “more than ready” for F1 debut

2011 Australian Grand Prix

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Pastor Maldonado, Williams, Barcelona, 2011

Pastor Maldonado says he feels “more than ready” to start his first F1 race this weekend.

The Venezuelan driver said: “I feel more than ready to start my first season in Formula One.

“I have never been to Melbourne before but we’ve done a good amount of testing which will add to the time I have spent learning the circuit in our simulator. I am now just looking forward to going racing. It will be a very exciting moment. My aim this weekend is to get a solid finish, and to score some points.”

Team mate Rubens Barrichello added he’s “doubly excited about the first race as we should already have been racing by now.”

Sam Michael said the new Williams will have some extra parts in time for the first race of the year: “The FW33 is fully prepared for the first race of the season.

“Regarding the aero package, we have all the parts that we ran on the final days of testing in Barcelona, plus a few additional changes that we will test on Friday.

“The main focus over the course of the first few races is, of course, performance, but also to ensure that the car is reliable. We will also find out where we sit in the order. Overall, we are just looking forward to getting out there and going racing again!”

2011 Australian Grand Prix


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    Keith Collantine
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    23 comments on “Maldonado “more than ready” for F1 debut”

    1. How did he fare in testing against Rubens?

      1. It’s difficult to say without knowing when they were running the same or similar programs. For all we know, Barrichello was doing short run to assess the Pirellis and provide feedback, whilst Maldonado was doing race distances to get used to them. In this case, it’s impossible to compare them because they weren’t running under the same conditions.

        1. LOL, I answered pretty much the same as you, with less than half the words.

      2. Hard to say, they did pretty much different programs. Main thing is, he did a lot of milage in the car to get to grips with everything.

    2. I should think he is after being like a student retaking his first year in GP2.

    3. I wonder if Comrade Chavez will be attending the race?

      1. I bet he is looking forward to got to Texas next year!

        1. No way would he set foot in the land of the capitalist dogs!

          1. Not only the land of the capitalists, butmthe home state of the devil himself: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/sep/21/usa.venezuela
            He’d be able to smell the sulfur!

    4. He didn’t cover as much as Rubens due to reliability issues with the car or making a few mistakes himself, and according to Patrick head Williams haven’t tried any low fuel runs yet, so things at least look promising.

      Sir Frank has also said that he does seem quite overconfident, which may mean we see a few off track excursions.

      He seemed to fair well towards the end of the last test, but Martin Brundle, who was also there at the last test said he did miss the braking point into turn 1 every 1 in 3 over quite a long run. Time will tell.

      1. Thanks for filling up the gaps.

    5. Hmm points in the first race..

    6. Good luck to him. We’ll soon see whether his 4 years in GP2 have been a blessing and prepared him well, or if it’s just because he’s not that good.

      1. I’m guessing he is not loaded with talent because it took him four years to claim that GP2 crown, but then again, in those 4 years of GP2 racing he would have thrashed a lot of mistakes that are being made by drivers who switched to F1 too soon.

    7. How can you be “More than ready”?
      Does he have a checklist for it.

      Ready Check:
      – Familiar with Car
      – Fitness levels sufficient
      – Packed suitcase with sufficient underwear for whole weekend
      – Checked Passport is valid for year
      – Superlicense in date

      More than Ready Check:
      – Excuses for team mate out qualifying you
      – Excuses for DNF (Mechanical)
      – Excuses for DNF (Driver)
      – Suit picked out for F1 Gala
      – Timing of toilet breaks perfected to avoid Martin Brundle on grid

      1. Hahaha, perfect! Sad though that we’ll only have about half the gridwalks this year, apparently.

      2. Regarding that last point…he best not take any pointers from Raikonnen ;)

    8. I dont know if I can read a lot into his statements, but it really does seem like he’s a bit cocky right now. I mean, I’m willing to believe that he’s a good driver and all, but do I buy that he’s a Lewis Hamilton type, who is going to show up and immediately start scoring amongst a highly competitive grid?

      No, I dont. Hence I believe this guy is full of it (and himself).

    9. Milton A. Draper
      21st March 2011, 19:13

      Williams’ Sam Michael said Maldonado’s performance in the rain during the last test was “impressive”
      http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=43091

      Martin Brundle is mad because he ain’t got the money to get his son into F1. So, he is envious of Maldonado’s PDVSA backing.

      Pastor is going to do just fine. He just needs to avoid contact with Brundle. Don’t accept any water, beer or candy from Martin… no being alone in a dark alley with him, either.

      Pastor always had raw speed, and all he needed was to concentrate and calm down to avoid mistakes. He did so in GP2 in 2010.

      I think he is going to be better than most expect him to be.

      1. I’m expecting a decent year out of him too.

        Then again, I expected a lot more of Hulkenberg (one of the few recent starters who came into F1 with a more impressive record than Pastor), and he didn’t really deliver. It’s hard to know with a teammate like Rubens, because there’s a lot of experience there.

    10. LET´S WAIT AND SEE.

      BEST WISHES FOR WHOLE WILLIAMS TEAM

      EXIT…

      1. While capslock is indeed cruise control for cool, you still need to steer.

    11. I expect better result from both Williams & their drivers.They are not performing well for best part 6 season & by leaving Hulkenberg they have to prove that they have done the good thing.

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