In the five races since Maldonado’s maiden victory, Williams has scored just four points, with two tenth places and a ninth for Bruno Senna. Maldonado himself has finished no higher than twelfth. Speaking in the FIA press conference on Thursday, the Venezuelan driver sought to explain why his – and Williams’ – season has failed to ignite. 
 
“I think after Barcelona, for whatever reason, we didn’t consolidate our results,” he suggested. “I did a couple of mistakes and then I’ve been a bit unlucky as well at the same time. We’ve been working so hard in the team, trying to keep our performance. Now in the second part of the Championship we are looking to recover the points we lost and to every time be strong.”
 
Maldonado has shown good qualifying pace in recent weeks, making it to Q3 in the last three races, and given that the Hungaroring has similarities to circuits on which the Williams has previously looked competitive, he struck a confident note when considering his chances this weekend, while arguing that the circuit is very demanding. 
 
“For sure now the gaps are very close and I hope to have a great car here,” he said. “It’s going to be very important to understand the tyres, to understand and to prepare the car for quali and the race – which is a compromise I think here. And yeah, I love this circuit. It’s very technical, very hard mentally and physically. I’m looking forward to a great result and to be back to the points with the team.”