Maldonado penalty sets Williams to middle of Monaco grid

Pastor Maldonado, Williams

Photo by: xpb.cc

• Pastor Maldonado qualified ninth for the Monaco Grand Prix but incurs a 10-place grid penalty for an incident with Perez in FP3 earlier this morning.
• Pastor posted competitive times throughout qualifying but was hampered by traffic on his quickest Q3 run.
• Bruno Senna qualified 14th in what was an extremely close qualifying session.

Mark Gillan, Chief Operations Engineer:
It has been a tough and busy day for the team with both cars not finishing qualifying as high as we would have liked. Pastor picked up heavy damage to his car in FP3 and the car crew did a fantastic job to do the repairs in time for the start of the first session of qualifying. Pastor also received a 10-place grid penalty due to an incident with Perez. Despite the ninth (prior to penalty) and 14th qualifying positions for Pastor and Bruno respectively, our analysis shows that a top five qualifying position was achievable for us today.

Pastor Maldonado:
Everything was quite tight today. We were on the pace and looking good for a top five position but I came across traffic on what would have been my best lap. My second Q3 lap was a bit slower as we lost a bit of grip from the car and tyres. It's going to be difficult tomorrow with the penalties, but I will do my best and we'll see.

Bruno Senna:
I am disappointed with qualifying. The car definitely had a good lap in it but unfortunately I just pushed too hard and the laptime didn't come to me. I'm frustrated with myself but we know we have a strong car so now we just have to see what we can do tomorrow. You never know what can happen in Monaco but it's always easier if you can start further up the grid.