Hungary GP: Race notes - Williams

29/07/2012

Bruno Senna finished seventh in the Hungarian Grand Prix for the Williams F1 Team. After making a good start, Bruno drove a clean race to make his two-stop strategy work while defending his position from a charging Mark Webber in the closing stages.

Pastor Maldonado finished in 13th; his race hindered by a bad start and having to serve a drive-through penalty after making contact with Paul Di Resta in the latter stages.

Bruno Senna: Today was a nice race. We pushed very hard on the strategy to make it work especially as the track conditions and the weather were very different from what we were expecting, so I'm happy with the team and I hope we can carry this momentum on. There were a lot of battles for me and it was hard it keep the tyres alive because the temperatures were so high, but it's good to start in ninth place and finish in seventh. I think this is a turning point for us. The race was good, it was a fun weekend, the team are happy and the break is now welcome as it will be a chance to rest before we continue to push in the second part of the season.

Pastor Maldonado: It was a difficult race today. I had a bad start and lost a lot of positions which compromised our race from the beginning. It was hard to keep good pace in the traffic and then we also had to serve a drive-through penalty. I was on the limit racing Di Resta when I locked the brakes and lost some grip, but I was on the inside of the corner and so there was some light contact. We had to concentrate on tyre management today and we gathered a lot of information for the future. We weren't as competitive as we have been, but we now need to work hard to focus on the second part of the season after the summer break.

Mark Gillan, Chief Operations Engineer: I am pleased for Bruno who had an excellent race and the six points are a very welcome boost for the whole team going into the August break. Pastor had a poor start off the grid which compromised his race. He then pushed hard with good pace but received a drive-through penalty for his overtake on Di Resta. I'd like to thank the pit stop crew who did very well today, with our fastest ever stop.

Laurent Debout, Renault Sport F1 team support leader: Bruno has looked strong all weekend and it's good to have this rewarded with some points today. Engine wise we've had a positive weekend and want to keep this momentum going over the summer - when we come back we go straight to the tracks where outright power is rewarded.

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