Williams will be satisfied with a podium finish for Pastor Maldonado in the Singapore Grand Prix, as team officials said it could afford to take more risks against the main title contenders.
Maldonado delivered a strong lap to secure a place on the front row and will start between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.
Although Maldonado knows his closest rivals need to be wary about their championship hopes, Williams chief operations engineer Mark Gillan says that his outfit needs to be equally mindful of its own position.
The Grove-based outfit is currently eighth in the constructors’ championship, nine points behind Force India and 46 points adrift of Sauber.
Speaking about whether Maldonado could go all out for victory to add to the one he took in Spain, Gillan said: “Lewis has been very strong all weekend, and has been the class act this weekend in terms of pace.
“But Pastor has certainly pushed him hard and anything can happen; we are out to get a podium.
“Each team has their own battle and we want to be up there as much as any team. But from our side, we have as much to win and lose as any team up the front of the grid and we want a podium. We feel we can do it.”
Although Maldonado’s performance in qualifying surprised many, Gillan said that the team had been strong all weekend, but that its car’s headline pace had been disguised by it not getting the most out of the supersoft tyre in practice.
“We were very strong on the prime tyre on Friday, and not so much on the supersoft – so that was something that we did a lot of work on between Friday and Saturday,” he explained.
“Pastor is also a very special talent. As a driver he is exceptionally quick.
“Sometimes the car, like at the last race, was not as good as it has been, but here we were good on Friday on the prime tyre, and not so good on the option.
“We worked hard on the set-up to adapt and it seems to have paid dividends. But Pastor I think has strung out pretty much all the performance of the car. I don’t think there would be many who could have driven it quicker.”
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