Maldonado eager to know future soon

GP2 champion Pastor Maldonado is hoping to know whether he will drive for Williams next year in the near future after making his test debut for the team in Abu Dhabi today

The Venezuelan completed 81 laps for the team, setting the eighth-fastest time of the day as part of an evaluation for a possible seat next season. The team has a vacancy for a funded driver alongside Rubens Barrichello after dropping Nico Hulkenberg despite his impressive debut season.

When asked by AUTOSPORT when he expects to know whether he will drive for Williams, Maldonado replied: "As soon as possible. We are pushing."

The 25-year-old was happy with his performance after spending much of the day doing development work for the team. He had also driven for HRT on the opening day of the test.

"I did my job," he said. "I think that we improved together and increased our speed run by run. The team this morning concentrated on trying some aero set-ups. It was great for me because I never did that before, so it's a good experience that in the future I'm going to use."

Maldonado also had little difficulty jumping from the back-of-the-grid HRT into the midfield Williams, finding the car similar to drive despite the extra downforce.

"It's a big difference," he said. "The most important thing is that I tried two different cars so it's more experience for me and I'm more confident now with the car.

"They are different cars, but two professional teams. The Williams has much downforce, so it's quicker in the corners and on the brakes, but with the same engine so the power is not so different."

Maldonado will return to testing action for HRT during the Pirelli tyre test in Abu Dhabi that will be held on Friday and Saturday.