Pastor Maldonado may have crashed out on the final lap of the Australian Grand Prix, but his performance beforehand has given the Williams outfit great confidence in its car.
The Venezuelan harassed Fernando Alonso for fifth place for much of the race and was clearly quicker, but couldn’t get passed the Ferrari. He later hit the wall on the final lap.
Now the Williams team have even greater targets, and Maldonado is eyeing the top, saying he doesn’t believe the tops teams; McLaren and Red Bull, are that far away.
“Next weekend [in Malaysia] will be interesting for everybody. The McLaren and Red Bull look strong, but we are not that far behind,” he said.
“I was close to [Mark] Webber in the first and second stint – a little bit quicker in the first but just losing a little bit in the second. So we are there. I think we are faster than Ferrari, plus quicker than Sauber and Force India as well.”
The Renault powered-FW44’s pace has given Williams a boost and Maldonado says they head to the next race in a much more relaxed mood.
“The team is confident,” he added. “We need some points, but at the same time we are more relaxed now because we did a pretty good job.
“We’ve been pushing so hard to get this car more competitive. I think everybody is surprised by our pace, even more in the race than in qualifying.”
