F1Weekly podcast # 681
Clark and Nasir cover the Canadian Grand Prix we have another fantastic Motorsports Mondial and here is Pastor Maldonado’s take on the Austrian Grand Prix.
Pastor Maldonado finally opened his 2015 championship points account at the Canadian Grand Prix and is looking to build on his Montréal seventh-place with a strong drive at the Red Bull Ring.
Do you like the Red Bull Ring?
It is an interesting circuit and one I enjoyed visiting last year, even if it was a weekend where we didn’t have the best of results. I think we have much better potential this year with the car and we’ve been looking quite strong recently. It’s great to be able to visit a different type of location for a Grand Prix and the event was really impressive last year; I’m looking forward to returning.
How does it feel to finally open your points account for 2015?
Of course it’s good and there’s a lot of potential yet to come. There are twelve races left in the season so still a lot of opportunity to do well. It’s been frustrating waiting for a points finishing race to come, but now it’s happened it’s like the monkey is off my back and we can push forward for a good season. Certainly, it was a positive weekend for the team in Canada and there’s still lots of potential in the season ahead
How was the Canadian Grand Prix for you in the car?
It was quite an uneventful one and one where I had to do a reasonable amount of managing behind the wheel especially as we went so long on one set of tyres. We weren’t sure how we would be with the tyre degradation, but actually the car felt fine. Of course, I couldn’t push flat out as we wanted to keep to a one-stop strategy as that offered the best opportunity for a good result, but everything worked as we wanted it to. It was good to have an uneventful race and finish in the points.
What was the team’s reaction to you getting those points on the board?
There was a fantastic reaction from everyone in the team and it was great to be part of the team at that moment when I walked back to the garage seeing how everyone was happy for me. Everyone has worked so hard this year and last year too, so it’s really great when you finish a race in the points. This is what we want to do at every Grand Prix and what we want in Austria next
Do you feel that yourself and the E23 Hybrid are a good combination this season?
I think we are a good combination. We do have a good car this year and it’s one which we seem to be able to get working well at different tracks. We know it’s not the fastest car as the Mercedes performs exceptionally well, but it’s one which we can push hard and put up a fight. The other positive is that we seem to be getting on top of all the small reliability issues we had earlier in the year so there’s potential for us to score good points in the races ahead.
What will you be focusing on in Austria?
Just like any Grand Prix we’ll be looking to get the maximum from the car. You need good power in Austria especially with the decent hill there. There are a couple of straights and we’ve been looking good through the speed traps so hopefully we’ll keep that pace. If we can qualify well we should have a great race.
Do you know how to yodel?
This is not something which comes up in our simulation programme but I’m happy to give it a go! Last year’s race in Austria was a great event and left me wanting to see more of the area so why not try some of the local customs!
[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/mp3.f1weekly.com/podcasts/06-10-15f1weekly681.mp3]