Williams hits early problems

Pastor Maldonado

Williams ran into a number of snags as F1 winter testing began in Jerez on Tuesday. Following the launch of the new FW34 this morning, Pastor Maldonado was driving the car and issues resulted in only 25 laps.

“We performed a number of system checks on the car today, including testing our new engine installation and some aerodynamic correlation runs," explains Mark Gillen, Williams’ new Chief Operations Engineer. “Unfortunately testing was cut short with a couple of initial teething problems which we are currently investigating. We intend to get these fixed this evening in time for a full test program with Pastor tomorrow."

On the timesheets, Maldonado was 11th quickest, although the Venezuelan was not able to set a representative time and only just edged out the HRT of Pedro de la Rosa.

“It feels great to be back with the team and to start putting some mileage on the FW34," he reported. “The car felt good and the systems were all working well this morning. I like the feel of the new Renault engine as well. It’s still too early to make any predictions, but we are pushing hard and working to understand the car better."

Williams is now using Renault-badged engines for the first time since its last title-winning season in 1997, having run with Cosworth powerplants for the last two years.