• Williams news

Pastor Maldonado feeling no pressure

Pastor Maldonado will be back in the cockpit of the Williams on Saturday © Sutton Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• Drivers:
• Pastor Maldonado

• Teams:
• Williams

Pastor Maldonado is feeling little in the way of pressure ahead of his Formula One debut in two week's time.

Last year's GP2 champion has one day of testing in the FW33 left before he arrives in Australia for his first grand prix weekend. Nevertheless, he is confident he is in good shape for his big day and is proud to be the first Venezuelan in F1 since Johnny Cecotto in the 1980s.

"I don't have this kind of pressure," he said when asked if expectations were high. "I do my best to understand everything, and to do the best job I can for the team. Our aim is to get the most out of the FW33. We will see what we can do at the first race but I feel ready. I am very happy for my country as they are pushing very hard for me and that is something special. I am here to do my job as well as I can and once I am in the car that is my only focus."

He said his first objective was to see the chequered flag in Australia, but he is also confident of challenging for points.

"It is going to be an exciting moment for me," Maldonado said about his F1 debut. "I have been racing for many years and I have waited many years to be in Formula One so sitting on the grid in Melbourne is going to be great. I am going to try to treat it like any other race though. My objective is to finish the race, if everything goes well, I don't see why we can't score points as well."

He admitted it had been challenging to help build the FW33 up from scratch after testing the fully developed FW32 at the end of last year in Abu Dhabi.

"Starting from zero is a bit different," Maldonado said. "Last year I just had to focus on myself and on improving lap by lap. Now we need to keep working together to develop the car as well, so there will be more of a job to do. The feeling in the team and with my engineers is good. I know it will be a really great season with them."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.