Webber: Spanish win a 'deserved' tonic for Williams

Mark Webber has said Pastor Maldonado's win in Spain was a well-deserved tonic for the Williams F1 team.

Williams have been in the doldrums in recent years, and while the result was unexpected, it was still very much welcomed up and down the pit lane, including by Webber, who drove for the Grove-based outfit from 2005-2006, before joining his current team, Red Bull Racing, in 2007.

"It's an unreal result considering the last two or three years Williams have had, which have been very difficult apart from the odd highlight here and there," Webber wrote in his latest column for BBC Sport.

"Pastor was on for a good result in Melbourne at the start of the season before he crashed behind Fernando Alonso on the last lap, and you just thought: 'When are they going to have a tonic?"'

"That result in Spain was exactly the tonic they deserved. I think a podium would have been enough. But a win? Bloody hell.

"It was a terrible shame that the fire in their garage just after the race took some of the joy out of the victory.

"As ever in these cases, it was great to see the camaraderie that exists in F1, with the mechanics from other teams having no hesitation in diving in to help, despite the risks involved, and offers of assistance to Williams subsequently.

"It was, nevertheless, a reminder that F1 can never be totally safe - there are plenty of dangers on and off the track, and we always have to do our best to ensure they are as under control as possible."

Meanwhile, Webber added that the 2012 F1 season remains completely open and that it is impossible to make any predictions going to Monaco.

"Pastor was the fifth different winner in five races this year. It's been a very difficult season to predict, and it remains impossible to read," he confirmed.

"Up until China the races were very close, with the field closely packed together. Then in Bahrain and now Spain we've had some big gaps and the field has been spread out. In Bahrain there was a 20-second gap behind the guy who was third, Lotus driver Romain Grosjean, which I fell into. But if I'd been that far behind in China I would have been outside the points.

"It's a really open season and what is clear is that the tyres are the biggest factor to get right."