Pastor Maldonado eyes another podium in Valencia

Pastor Maldonado had his sights set on a second podium finish for Williams after securing third position on the grid during qualifying for Sunday's European Grand Prix.

The Venezuelan, who won his first race at the Spanish Grand Prix earlier in the season, struggled with his car's setup and was forced to use all his super-soft tyres in order to secure his grid position.

However, the Valencia street circuit is notoriously difficult to overtake on, and with that in mind the 27-year-old believes his lack of tyre choice will not have much affect on his race.

"The car has been quite quick since yesterday, (but0 we were struggling a bit with the option tyres. We were a bit confused because I didn't feel the same feeling with the prime tyres," explained Maldonado.
"For qualifying we understood them a little bit more and here we are. I think we did a pretty good job.

"I think for the long run, for us the prime tyres were a bit better," he said. "We had more range and we were even quicker after a couple of laps, so we have tyres enough to race and be very competitive, so I don't worry about that."

Maldonado added that he had been encouraged by his team's progress and trusts them to choose the right strategy for the race.

"Williams is getting better and better every time so I am pretty happy for the team and pretty happy for my country and it's going to be a great opportunity again to get on the podium and fight for a good result."

"Looking forward to tomorrow, what happens with the strategy is very important and will be essential for tomorrow. These conditions are very hot and difficult for everybody so I am looking forward to it. Let's see."

His Williams team-mate Brazilian Bruno Senna was not so upbeat after having to settle for 14th position following a disappointing performance in qualifying.

"I'm not too happy with our qualifying result today as I wasn't able to put all my best sectors together which cost me a lot of positions." said Senna.

"However, the car feels good for tomorrow so hopefully we can have a stronger race. It's going to be very tough with the high temperatures but we will be pushing hard to come away with some points."