Senna expected to lose 2013 seat to Bottas

2012 F1 season

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Bruno Senna said he’d been aware of Williams’ long-term plans for Valtteri Bottas long before losing his race seat to the team’s test driver.

“Since the beginning of my program with Williams I accepted that I had to share the car with Valtteri Bottas in 15 Fridays as a part of his preparation for a likely debut in 2013,” said Senna.

Senna added: “It has been extremely satisfying to be the teams most regular point scorer and for me to demonstrate my pace in all 20 races.

“I have learned a lot and improved considerably through the season. I have had a relatively short career so far and feel as though I have come a long way in just a few years”.

“I had some notable achievements this year, such as the fastest lap in the Belgian Grand Prix, my favourite track, scoring points on a regular basis and making up many many places through the races.

“Regularly racing in the top ten has certainly been a step forward in my still relatively short career and has allowed me to further sharpen up my race craft. Working with a competitive and supportive engineering team like Williams has left me well prepared for the next step in my career.”

Senna thanked his former team, saying: “I would like to thank the whole team and particularly Frank for giving me the chance of completing my first full season in F1.

“It has been extremely rewarding to develop the Williams FW34 into a consistently competitive race car and cracking the challenge of the Pirelli tyres has been just one of the satisfying points.”

He added he to confirm his future F1 plans soon.

2012 F1 season


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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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24 comments on “Senna expected to lose 2013 seat to Bottas”

  1. It has been extremely satisfying to be the teams most regular point scorer

    While this is indisputable, it brings to mind the old adage: There are lies, damned lies and statistics…

    1. @ned-flanders yeah. There’s a difference between finishing 10th every race, and actually being impressive, like Maldonado.

      Senna’s season has been dissapointing. Amd if one compares it to Maldonado’s year (even if Pastor blew it off oh so many times this season), then there are not that many positives.

    2. @ned-flanders Mmm I can taste the cheesy-PR topping from here..

  2. still full of excuses it seems..relatively short career??? Kimi enter to F1 on age 21 with only 23 races into his CV when FIA trying to prevent his entry while allow the lieks of Yuji Idle to join the sport.

    I dont believe in learning path bla bla bla, the first impression is always the crucial 1. Honing your racecraft??? That largely depends on your talent in reflex and spatial awareness…you can learn to race, but nvr to the lvl of champion as they are born with it.

    1. He’s still trying to land another race seat so he’s bound to stress the positives. This was an interview in more than one sense of the word!

  3. Well, that looks like he knew quite well what he was in for, and he got it. It may not have been enough, but he had another full year of F1, so that’s something (well, I do agree with Heikki that just another year of F1 isn’t always enough).

    He’s a solid driver, available, and with some money, it is a truth universally acknowledged he must be is in search of a seat :) Maybe Caterham has a spot for him.

    1. @bosyber Caterham need funding so that is possible. However, if Petrov is able to bring as much money for 2013, then I think the team will prefer him over Senna.

      I think that Senna might have become as successful as his uncle if he hadn’t stopped racing in 1994 but I’m afraid that he won’t be able to establish himself in F1 now.

      1. I do think that is quite likely @girts, Petrov didn’t do all that bad this year (and of course, his Brazil result means a lot for the team), while Senna showed less than expected.

      2. @Girts If I remember correctly Petrov admitted somewhere during the season the money well was empty. I don’t think we will see him at Caterham next year and his Brazil race won’t change that.

  4. It is always amazing to see and read how disillusional and far from reality some of todays F1 drivers see themselves.
    Always struggling to get into the Q2 at all, at least 1 crash at almost every weekend of this F1 season, performances that were far beyond the possibilities that this years Williams car had given to him, and to put the icing on the cake, pushing one of the tiltle fighters off the track on the first lap of the crucial last race…
    Well, Mr Bruno Senna, not only did you show that you are definitely not good enough for F1, but also did you damage the great name that you own and put shame on it.
    And now this statement from B. Senna….
    Well, it is really no wonder when young drivers feel so wrong about themselves or are advised to such strange statements by their managements, that the driving habits and attitude of F3 and GP2 has more and more taken over on F1 as well….
    What a great drivers field and respectful competition we once had in this beautiful sport.

    1. I just hope he doesnt snap up that FI seat simply because of his wealth. Bianchi,Sutil and Alguersuari all deserve it a lot more than he does. I hope this is the last we ever get to see of him in F1….

    2. He rarely struggled to get into Q2 that was Toro Rosso’s job. Vettel should have taken a wider line rather than aim for the apex. And in terms off crashes just look at his team mate….
      Senna is a name that will never be damaged or changed. Bruno is not a great driver but if he’s not F1 material then many other drivers should leave as well…

      1. Other than Maldonado/Grosjean (who at least showed some speed) and Karthikeyan, I don’t see “many” that should leave.

    3. You must have seen a different race than I did. It was Vettel who cut in front of Bruno and caused the accident.

      1. It was also Bruno who dived up the inside of at least 2 other cars to be where Vettel was.

        1. In only the fourth corner after the start, with so many cars together, Vettel should have lept a more outside line instead of cutting to the appex. If Alonso had done the same Vettel did he would have had an accident and the driver on the inside of him (Hulkenberg I think) could be out, just like Bruno.

          Vettel had the excuse of not seeing anyone on the inside when he started to do the corner, as Paul di Resta’s Force India was hiding the Williams. So I think it was a racing incident and even if it wasn’t for the championship situation, the young German didn’t really deserved a penalty.

          1. didn’t deserve…

    4. He proved good enough to F1, just not good enough to keep his Williams seat, as the team had prepared a very good promise (Bottas) to race in 2013.

      Bruno Senna can do much better in a second proper season in F1, even more if he has the same practice time as others. In races he is already as good as most of the grid and having the same practice time as others he can only improve his qualifying form. Otherwise it wouldn’t make sense to fight for a good F1 seat, as qualifying is crucial, even more with such a level playing field.

  5. Well I don’t like this commercial like statement,but I think that it just wasn’t meant be for Bruno. With the death of his uncle and his father his future as a racing driver was sealed. But I think he had a mountain to climb in the past years and he actually shared his car with someone a lot. I think that he has ability to learn and he should have another chance. And it wasn’t his fault that Vettel simply didn’t saw him.

  6. I am trying to assimilate the idea of how drivers in this era have to be. I agree with Heiki, but F1 has turned into a game now where you are not complete if you do not have a backing sponsor. Bruno still has his, so I think he will have a seat.

  7. I think his time has come at the right moment with Williams. I gave him the benefit of the doubt at the beginning of the year, owing to his rather scattered progression through a couple of other teams. However, he really hasn’t done anything exciting this year so this seems fair enough.

  8. It’s only natural that he could not keep his seat, as he had to have a really good season to have a chance in Williams for 2013 and losing so much practice time he could only have an Ok season, to use the words of Toto Wolff.

    Bruno Senna showed good race pace in 15 GP, as far as I can remember. In Australia and Brazil his races were badly compromised in the first lap through no fault of his own and in Bahrein, Spain and Canada he had the same sort of trouble that affected even a Champion like Button, bothing suffering to conserve their tyres due to their smooth driving style. Anyway, the slim performance window of this year tyres hurt them more in qualifying and that explains why Button could only score 7 points in 6 races (in the first half of the year) and Bruno had so much trouble to qualify well, as he also had the aditional disadvantage of losing 15 FP1.

    So, with more normal tyres in 2013 and not losing those 15 FP1 anymore, Bruno Senna is going to recover the qualifying form that saw him put the Lotus in Q3 four times, even managing to outqualify Alonso at Spa the very first time he drove a real F1 car. Add that to the speed and consistency he showed this year in the races and we will have a really good F1 driver, capable to win races if he has a really good car. I hope he gets a seat in Force India and I expect him to match Paul di Resta during the year.

    1. That’s a great info Fernando. I hope that he can get a drive next year in a competitative car and show of his skills. Fingers crossed.

      1. Yes, fingers crossed.

        Last year he also had to convince Williams that he could be consistent if he had a full proper season, and he proved to be consistent. This year he has to convince Force India he will add the qualifying form (with 2013 tyres and not losing 15 FP1) to the speed and consistency he showed in this year’s races.

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