Satisfying seventh for Senna; Pastor disappoints

A determined drive to seventh from Bruno Senna strengthened Williams’ hold on seventh in the Constructors’ Championship.

For the first time this year Williams had two cars qualified in the top ten, but a poor start from Pastor Maldonado and a subsequent penalty saw the Venezuelan drop out of the points. Bruno Senna, however, prospered from ninth on the grid and finished seventh after dueling with Jenson Button for much of the race and subsequently holding off the charging Red Bull of Mark Webber in the final stages.

“Today was a nice race,” said Senna. “We pushed very hard on the strategy to make it work especially as the track conditions and the weather were very different from what we were expecting. I’m happy with the team and I hope we can carry this momentum on.

“There were a lot of battles for me and it was hard it keep the tyres alive because the temperatures were so high, but it’s good to start in ninth place and finish in seventh. I think this is a turning point for us. The race was good, it was a fun weekend, the team are happy and the break is now welcome as it will be a chance to rest before we continue to push in the second part of the season.”

Maldonado’s race went wrong from the start. Having qualified eighth he went backwards on the first lap, and later, when fighting to recover was given a drive through penalty for causing a collison, having hit Di Resta.

“It was a difficult race today,” admitted the Venezuelan. “I had a bad start and lost a lot of positions which compromised our race from the beginning. It was hard to keep good pace in the traffic and then we also had to serve a drive-through penalty. I was on the limit racing Di Resta when I locked the brakes and lost some grip, but I was on the inside of the corner and so there was some light contact.”

While Maldonado has more points than Senna, the Brazilian has scored six times this season, compared to his team-mate’s two.