Pastor and Bottas in, Senna out; at Williams

[John S]

Official announcement from team leaves Bruno out in the cold.

The Williams F1 Team is pleased to announce that Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas will be the team’s race drivers for the 2013 FIA Formula One World Championship season.

Williamsf1.com, Today.

[Scott]

Glad for Pastor.  Ups and downs this season, but I think he has performed better than Senna and as a bonus he brings money.   

[Jericoke]

It would certainly be hard to justify letting the race winner go, and then keeping a driver for his name.

[Williamsfan]

Maldonado was spectacular but erratic although as the season progressed he matured and mellowed into a pretty good driver, I'm glad he's staying.  Senna was consistent but his qualifying was rarely good enough and he lacked that spark.  Plenty of good things have been said about Bottas so I am looking forward to see how he does, I'm hoping he's the driver we've really been crying out for.

[F1fanaticBD]

You can sense the frustration in Bruno's statement, that he was just brought as a filler for Bottas. I expected more from Bruno, but to sit out 15 rounds of Practice session, specially the Fridays are handicapping itself for the driver. That means that 15 of the races he have 50% less knowledge than Maldonado, and I guess that held him back. I think he should have another full year with a decent team before we could say he is just a name. But I guess Kobayashi deserve this drive in next season more than he do..

[Irisado]

I'm disappointed for Senna, because I do feel that Williams didn't help him that much by short changing him so much on Fridays, yet I'm also pretty convinced that Bottas is a better long term prospect.

I don't see where Senna will go now though, especially with Hispania out of the picture.

[Williamsfan]

The thing is Bruno knew when he signed up what he was getting into, he could have stood his ground and not signed (after all, Williams needed his cash last season).

[Alianora La Canta]

I think Bruno thought it was better to be filler for Bottas than out of F1 altogether - or to go to one of the new teams (I think Hispania would have taken him, but would Bruno have taken Hispania?) After all, Bottas might not have made that final developmental jump needed to get from "decent GP2-level driver" to "F1 material". Or the opposition might have won the election in Venezuela, which would have left Maldonado out on his ear.

If you don't buy a lottery ticket, you can't win the lottery. It just so happened that Bruno had what happened to most lottery ticket buyers, and came away with not enough numbers to claim a prize.

[F1fanaticBD]

If you don't buy a lottery ticket, you can't win the lottery. It just so happened that Bruno had what happened to most lottery ticket buyers, and came away with not enough numbers to claim a prize.

Well put Alia, I hope get a chance for 2013..

[lkjohnson1950]

If he had a couple of podiums he would probably still be in the seat. I don't believe he was really ready for F1, but got a chance and took it. I believe he grew a great deal during the season and would have shown more in '13.

[F1fanaticBD]

If he had a couple of podiums he would probably still be in the seat. I don't believe he was really ready for F1, but got a chance and took it. I believe he grew a great deal during the season and would have shown more in '13.

If he could have couple of podium, then he would have cemented his place, because that would have gave Williams a much higher in he constructors championship, but the thing is that he never looked a podium contender in any races. If any team deserved a podium or two it have to be Force India.

[Williamsfan]

I do though wonder if Toto Wolff's influence at Williams now meant that it was inevitable Bottas would get the seat if he showed the right amount of pace in his P1 outings.  Shame for Senna but he has at least now had a full season in F1 and had enough chances to try to show his pace.  He was/is a better racer than qualifier and that cost him.

[F1fanaticBD]

I have a feeling the name Senna has became a burden for Bruno, as people expect him to be as spectacular as Ayrton.

[Scott]

I have a feeling the name Senna has became a burden for Bruno, as people expect him to be as spectacular as Ayrton.

On the other hand, he never would have had the F1 experience without it.

[F1fanaticBD]

Bruno is from a wealthy Brazilian family, if he had it in him he would have made it to F1, but the thing is we will never know for sure..