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Renault explains Maldonado's engine failure
Renault has indentified Pastor Maldonado's engine problem in Malaysia as a piston failure and is working to prevent the issue occurring again.
Maldonado was running 10th when smoke appeared from the rear his Williams and he was forced to retire the car to the pits.
"We used the intervening time between Malaysia and China to thoroughly investigate the engine failure we had on Pastor's car in Malaysia and quickly identified it as a piston failure," RĂ©mi Taffin, head of Renault Sport F1 track operations explained. "As a result we are looking to put in place safeguards to prevent it happening again to Williams or our other clients."
After failing to score points at the first two grands prix - Maldonado crashed out from sixth position on the final lap of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix - the Venezuelan is hoping for his first points of 2012 in China this weekend.
"Shanghai is one of my favourite circuits on the calendar so I am really looking forward to the race. The circuit has a nice combination of slow and medium speed corners and good sequences that are fun to drive. It is also very challenging because it is difficult to get close to the car in front to take advantage of the long DRS zone. We have shown good pace in the first two races and hopefully we can continue to improve here and pick up some points."