Maldonado, who will in fact start 17th thanks to grid penalties elsewhere,
delivered Williams’ first win in eight years at the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix
but his relationship with the famous Grove team is ending in acrimony. On
Thursday, Maldonado said that he thought he had “delivered more to the team
than they did for me” during their three years together.
“Within the team, behind closed doors, it’s not acrimonious,” Williams added.
“I don’t see any sort of issue. Pastor has said he wants to go to
another team and that’s absolutely fine – this is Formula One, it’s the
nature of the business.”
There were no shocks at the front of the grid where quadruple world champion
Sebastian Vettel snatched pole from Red Bull team mate Mark Webber.
A win today would mean a record eighth consecutive win in a single season for
Vettel would and keep the 26 year-old on course to equal Alberto Ascari’s
record of nine consecutive wins in total, which the Italian set during the
1952/53 seasons, as well as Michael Schumacher’s record of 13 wins in a
season. “I’m trying not to think much about these things,” Vettel said.
McLaren’s disastrous season continued, with 2009 world champion Jenson Button
qualifying 13th. He will start 15th after incurring a penalty earlier in the
weekend.