Maldonado shines in Abu Dhabi twilight

Pastor Maldonado gave Williams cause to celebrate with a superb drive to fourth in qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The Venezuelan almost missed out on Q3, just sneaking into the final session in 10^th place, but he made the most of the opportunity and after setting a solid if unspectacular time with his first Q3 run found a blistering turn of pace on his final flying lap to register a time of 1:41.226, just 0.015 seconds shy of the time set by third-placed Sebastian Vettel.

“We were on the limit in P10, but I saw the potential in the car.”
Pastor Maldonado

And things improved further for the Williams driver when Vettel was later penalised for a fuel irregularity in qualifying and demoted to the back of the grid, leaving Maldonado at the front of row for the start.

“It was a difficult session, especially in Q2 as we were on the limit in P10, but I saw the potential in the car,” said Maldonado afterwards. “We then found a great balance in Q3 and I'm happy that we are back to looking strong again.

“I think we showed throughout all the weekend that we are competitive and I did my best in qualifying. I'm really happy for the team, for myself, and I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow. Points are very important for us so I will be pushing to the maximum.”

Team-mate Bruno Senna had a more difficult afternoon, suffering technical issues and also being blocked by Sauber’s Sergio Pérez, a transgression that earned the Mexican a reprimand from the stewards.

“Bruno has found it a bit more difficult this weekend,” explained Chief Operations Engineer Mark Gillan. “His first run in qualifying was hampered by a car problem that was quickly fixed prior to his second run but unfortunately he didn't quite have the pace to transition into Q3, finishing 15th in what is a tight grid.”