• United States Grand Prix

Williams pair brush off battle

ESPN Staff
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Bruno Senna was overtaken by Pastor Maldonado with just four laps to go © Sutton Images
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Pastor Maldonado and Bruno Senna brushed off the battle that saw Maldonado snatch ninth place late on in the United States Grand Prix.

Both Williams cars were close behind Nico Hulkenberg's Force India, with Senna leading Maldonado for much of the race. However, with four laps to go Maldonado muscled his way ahead of his team-mate in to turn one in a move that almost brought contact and Maldonado said it was necessary for him to try and attack Hulkenberg.

"It was close but I needed to do that because I was quicker than him and quicker than Hulkenberg at the same time, and we are fighting in the championship with Force India," Maldonado said. "So it was very important to attack them at the end. It was so late so I was not able to get the place against Hulkenberg."

"Looking forward to the next race. The car looked pretty competitive today; we lost a lot of places at the beginning but we've been able to recover that so it's looking good."

Senna said that he did not fight Maldonado once he had attempted the move in order to ensure both Williams cars finished the race.

"I knew he was going to try a lunge and I didn't close the door because there was a risk of taking both cars out of the race," Senna said. "I think both of us are racing for points and some of us sometimes take chances but in any case it was a clean race. Unfortunately we got stuck behind Hulkenberg for most of the race, damaged the tyres a lot because of that and it was a bit frustrating to see the back of the Force India for the whole race but in the end it was a good race."

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