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Pos Driver
1 Fernando Alonso
2 Kimi Raikkonen
3 Felipe Massa

Pastor unconcerned by exhaust woes

Wednesday 20th February 2013

Pastor unconcerned by exhaust woes

Pastor unconcerned by exhaust woes

Pastor Maldonado has played down concerns that Williams will take a step backwards if they are forced to make changes to their exhaust design.

Only hours after launching their 2013 challenger, the FW35, at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, Williams were told by the FIA that their exhaust outlets are illegal.

The "vanes" on the inside of the exits of the Coanda exhausts are causing the headache, but the team say they are "seeking further clarification on this and a decision as to whether this design will be carried forward will be made before the first race".

Asked if he was concerned about the ruling, Maldonado said: "No, actually not. This is not changing anything.

"It is a standard Coanda. [There are] things we are testing and doing some experiments in the car for the future. We are really looking forward and we know very well the rules and we are looking forward to getting 100% not only from the exhaust, all [of] the car.

"I'm 100% sure we will be there in Melbourne fighting for good places."

The Venezuelan posted the fifth-best time on day one in Barcelona - 1.117s slower than the time of pacesetter Nico Rosberg - and feels the FW35 is a big improvement from his previous machinery at Williams.

"I'm very happy with the car because it's the best car I've had - especially in the first test for the previous years," he said.

"Last year the car was quite good, competitive all through the year, but I think there is a clear step forward in this car.

"And a part of that there is good reliability in the car, so this is a good improvement we did and we are really looking forward to even more mileage on the car in the next couple of days and even try to try different things in the car."

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