MARCH 17, 2013

Maldonado say new Williams undriveable

It has been a nightmare start to Williams' 2013 season.

The deaths of Hugo Chavez and Ginny Williams were big commercial and personal blows for the famous British team, and now its new car has been denounced by Pastor Maldonado.

"It is undriveable at the moment," said the Venezuelan.

"I think we're back to two years ago with conditions in the team," added Maldonado, referring to 2011, when the Grove based team finished a woeful ninth before a marked improvement last year.

Unlike Maldonado, his rookie teammate Valtteri Bottas just squeezed into Sunday morning's Q2 segment at Albert Park.

Maldonado is quoted by Brazil's Globo: "Perhaps, with less traffic, we would have entered Q2, but that's not the goal.

"The goal is to be among the top ten. Now, we are nowhere."

"There's nothing else to say," he is quoted by Spanish television Antena 3. "It's going very badly."

Meanwhile, supporting Finland's newest F1 driver - Bottas - in the paddock this weekend and beyond is Mika Hakkinen.

"I am a manager, a counsellor, or something else. Decide for yourself what to call me," the double world champion smiled to Turun Sanomat newspaper.

(GMM)

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