Lotus driver Pastor Maldonado is aiming for a top five finish after qualifying 11th for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Maldonado will start one place higher after Marcus Ericsson was awarded a three-place grid penalty for impeding Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg in the first part of qualifying.
The Venezuelan driver admits he expected to qualify within the top 10, however, struggled with tyre temperature.
“For sure I was expecting to be in the top ten but I’ve been struggling to get temperature into the tyres and I didn’t get very clean laps in Q2 so we lost out by a very small margin.
Despite a disappointing qualifying, Maldonado believes a top five finish is possible.
“The track changed a lot from this morning and the warmer weather made the rear very nervous. In the race we have an extra set of fresh tyres and we are in a very strong position to fight for good points, I think the top five is possible.”
Comments.
Loading comments…