25/05/2012 16:06
As the Formula One teams look ahead to the season highlight that is the Monaco Grand Prix, William Renault boss Frank Williams has revealed he still does not know how his team secured a win last time out.
Pastor Maldonado stunned the world of F1 with a thrilling drive in Barcelona to give the team not only a victory, but its first podium in seven years.
However, Williams has been unable to put a finger on how Maldonado was able to break up the dominance of the Red Bull and McLaren drivers.
"Whatever we did right, and I don't really know what that was, worked very fine and I'm just delighted to walk away with all those points and another number one on the scoreboard," he said.
The Williams chief added that he is extremely cynical when it comes to race outcomes, but is hopeful that Maldonado and the rest of the team are able to further capitalise on what has been a somewhat erratic season.
"I've been racing long enough to know that you should approach any race with a considerable amount of pessimism � All Grand Prix teams are immensely professional and very few of them make any mistakes worth talking about during a season so it’s hard to prise winners away from winning all the time," he added.
Despite the comments, race fans may believe that Williams is playing down the team's chances of winning in the hope that Maldonado can go about his business with minimal media intrusion.
Indeed, not only have five different drivers taken the chequered flag this year so far, but each winner has been driving for a different team.
Already this year more drivers have made the podium than seen throughout the entire 2011 season.
Asked about the seven-year wait, Williams added that it is a huge relief to have finally gotten the monkey off his back.
"I thought it was eight years actually but if it was seven that that sounds a little bit better but it's an embarrassing amount of time for a man with a big ego."
Posted by Craig Salter