Japanese GP: Race notes - Williams

07/10/2012

Both Pastor and Bruno drove a solid race for the Williams F1 Team finishing eighth and 14th respectively. Pastor moved up four places from his grid position to end the race in a points-scoring position. After an unscheduled pitstop for a new front wing due to a first lap collision with Rosberg, Bruno's race was further compromised by being given a drive-through penalty for the incident.

Pastor Maldonado: It was a good race for me. The car had great pace and was very consistent, but it proved difficult to overtake, especially towards the end. We felt we were quicker than the cars in front, but the nature of the track makes it difficult to close the gap. We're back in the points so I'm happy with that as it gives us great confidence going into the next race.

Bruno Senna: We had a good start managing to overtake two cars but unfortunately I ran into an incident with Rosberg on the second corner after taking the inside line. The race was slightly compromised from then on but we still had good pace. The car felt very competitive which allowed us to overtake quite a few cars and the tyres were responding well. We now go to Korea and will try to score some points there.

Mark Gillan, Chief Operations Engineer: Both drivers drove well today with strong pace throughout the race. Bruno's race was compromised with an early stop to replace a damaged front wing assembly and then with his subsequent drive-through penalty for contact with Rosberg. Pastor managed his tyres well throughout the race and brought the car home in a well-deserved 8th. We now immediately direct our attention to next weekend's Korean GP.

Laurent Debout, Renault Sport F1 team support leader: Both drivers finished higher than their starting positions and we scored four very important points with Pastor, so we can be happy with the race today. We introduced new engines this weekend and everything went to plan so we will look to carry this momentum forward to Korea in a week's time.

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