Bruno Senna has been left lamenting what could have been after a minor mistake in the latter stages of Q2 saw the Brazilian fail to progress through to the top ten shootout, which in turn saw Senna manage only 11th on the grid. Team-mate Pastor Maldonado was able to progress to the top ten shootout, but could only qualify 10th.
After improving greatly overnight, the Williams duo were instantly much more competitive once the third and final practice session got underway at the Circuit of the Americas. Pastor Maldonado ended the final practice session 3rd overall, and the team continued to remain competitive during qualifying. However, Bruno Senna made a slight mistake through Turn 19 during his best lap in Q2 and lost copious amounts of time, which subsequently saw the 29-year-old only manage 11th on the grid for the race on Sunday.
“Unfortunately I made a small mistake on my best lap in Q2, running a bit wide on Turn 19 and then having dirty tyres which cost me about half a second and a place in Q3 for sure.” Explained Bruno Senna, “It’s frustrating but we are able to score good points from where we are. We have a good car and we looked competitive in our race simulation in practice yesterday, so I’m really looking forward to the race. It’s a track we are all attacking and it’s important to keep pushing.”
The Williams duo were able to both finish in the points during the highly entertaining Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last time out, and it’s unquestionable that both Pastor Maldonado and Bruno Senna are targeting a similar result this weekend at Austin. Regarding both drivers avoid any potential melees at Turn 1 at the start, Senna and Maldonado could well enjoy a competitive 56-lap race tomorrow.
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