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Article claims Bottas almost certain to replace Senna in 2013
Discussion started by SehnKhan , 28 March, 2012 06:20
Article claims Bottas almost certain to replace Senna in 2013
SehnKhan 28 March, 2012 06:20
The link is below, but I found this very interesting:

[mag.gpweek.com]

Issue 146 Page 6 Top left corner under "In Briefly" section.

Re: Article claims Bottas almost certain to replace Senna in 2013
ADW 28 March, 2012 09:07
Their making that assumption because they only just found out that Bottas will be running Senna's car in the 15 FP1s this year. We all knew this a few months ago. Indeed I'm pretty sure Valterri's Friday running was confirmed before Senna even signed. So I'm not going to read too much into this at the moment.

Edit Spelling.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 28/03/2012 10:40 by ADW.

Re: Article claims Bottas almost certain to replace Senna in 2013
J4ck 28 March, 2012 10:12
it is too early

Re: Article claims Bottas almost certain to replace Senna in 2013
mayhemfunkster 28 March, 2012 10:12
The more telling way to come to that conclusion is Senna's 1 year deal. That is more telling than the Bottas friday thing.

Claire now has a year to find partners to match Senna's but who want Bottas in the car...

..or a big long term job that means they can dump PDVSA but that is a pipe dream!



mayhemlurker ;-)

Re: Article claims Bottas almost certain to replace Senna in 2013
rrafekaj 28 March, 2012 10:46
I say keep PDVSA, that deal is all good. This year we should attract more sponsors - wether it be through results or crashes!

I'd go so far as saying we've had more TV coverage in the last two races than the the whole of last year.

Pastor and Bottas for 2013 would be great. Mind you i'm still excited about Pastor and Senna in 2012

Re: Article claims Bottas almost certain to replace Senna in 2013
Lurcher 28 March, 2012 10:58
Now, Funkster, I wonder which company might fit the bill? Finnish, of course. Global market. High Tech. Maybe been at the top of the tree (like Williams) and now having to push a bit harder to keep with the rivals. Such a company would appreciate having their image rise with an improving team with massive world-wide exposure.
Could the target be in the mobile communications business? With a blue & white livery for their marketing? We do have a vacancy for a title sponsor.

Re: Article claims Bottas almost certain to replace Senna in 2013
FrankDC 28 March, 2012 11:13
Way too early, what if Bruno does an epic season, wouldn't Williams keep him considered that he can bring more money then Bottas and is also more experienced?

And also let's see how Pastor's season goes, hopefully Williams will be in a situation that is hard to decide who to keep, cause they had a great season, or may even keep both, despite the fact that Bottas seems like a very good driver smiling smiley

Re: Article claims Bottas almost certain to replace Senna in 2013
mayhemfunkster 28 March, 2012 11:51
@ Lurcher

Nokia, right?!

If they have the "cojones" (K1-ism) and the cash then they would be an ideal fit. And they also have lost focus in recent years it's true.

Bottas is an exciting prospect, if he capture's hearts in his home nation then who knows?

We have a vacancy for a title sponsor, but as MSP indicated we need one that is vodafone-strength, in that they title the team and put a lot of money in.

AT&T didn't put a lot in apart from the title sponsorship - IIRC the deal was quite small.



mayhemlurker ;-)

Re: Article claims Bottas almost certain to replace Senna in 2013
zenrique 28 March, 2012 12:21
I would love to see Bruno getting better and better in the next races, and getting a McLaren seat, replacing Hamilton.

Bernie would love, all the F1 fans would love, and there would be te perfect place for him getting a world title.

Re: Article claims Bottas almost certain to replace Senna in 2013
Francesc 28 March, 2012 12:36
Let's face it, Bruno's race was great (except his first lap). But his pace on the dry at the end of the race was much slower than Pastor. He still has a lot to improve.

Re: Article claims Bottas almost certain to replace Senna in 2013
ADW 28 March, 2012 12:55
Francesc - Bruno put in 6 laps in the 1:41s at the end. Pastor's best was 1:42.2 on lap 51

That's not "Much slower than Pastor". (sorry)

[www.fia.com]

I agree that Bruno still needs to improve in qually etc. But the dry pace at the end of the race was fine.

Edit - Hold on a minute. I'm going to total up the relevent lap times on the last stint. I think Pastor might have been faster overall... OK. Senna looks like he was bringing the tyres in slower. His first 2 laps were 2 seconds slower each!
Including those 2 odd laps, from lap 41 to 53 Maldonado's average lap was .4 sec per lap quicker. Though he was chasing points and Senna was holding position.
Interesting... Or not, you decide... (Sm120)



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 28/03/2012 13:30 by ADW.

Re: Article claims Bottas almost certain to replace Senna in 2013
crusty_bread 28 March, 2012 14:26
Looking forwards to 2013, I can see the logic of having two pay drivers currently, as it gives the team a choice.

PDVSA's 3rd year sponsorship deal is a truly monstrous amount and would make Maldonado the favoured driver to retain in 2013, but how secure is it? Signing a 3 year deal with Chavez when Chavez only had 2 years left in office, I would be amazed if the subject of him losing the election didn't crop up and wasn't factored into the deal, so there is surely some contract recognition security there.

If not, then Williams will still have one pay driver left.
If PDVSA is secure for another year, then Williams could probably afford to drop Senna, but what complicates the issue is that Williams would be left with NO paydriver money come 2014 when I believe the PDVSA contact comes to an end. Then again, Williams could be winning with Pastor by 2014, Chavez could be in power and going on strong, and the contract could be renewed, although for all that to happen, it seems unlikely.

It's swings and roundabouts. If the PDVSA deal falls through, Senna is guaranteed to stay. If not, he is going to have to put in a convincing performance to persuade the team not to use PDVSA's escalator funds to replace him with Bottas.

Right now, he doesn't look convincing on account of the fact that Maldonado looks plain faster.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 28/03/2012 14:46 by crusty_bread.

Re: Article claims Bottas almost certain to replace Senna in 2013
Mikef1 28 March, 2012 16:46
Did anyone also see Bruno spin out from contact with a Force India? He spun out twice before the restart, not just once confused smiley I know it was his first wet race and full credit to him for recovering with a great race but I want to see him making less contact in the future. Still though, at least he's trying to overtake. Barrichello was good for us but there were some moments where he simply wouldn't even TRY to overtake a car but be content to follow him around. I think I'd rather watch our cars battling for position. That being said, this year's car allows for that kind of driving, the last two cars weren't really good enough to fight for overtakes (Bar the backmarkers lol) That's not entirely fair. The FW32 had its moments.

Re: Article claims Bottas almost certain to replace Senna in 2013
Francesc 28 March, 2012 18:05
Quote:
ADW
Francesc - Bruno put in 6 laps in the 1:41s at the end. Pastor's best was 1:42.2 on lap 51
That's not "Much slower than Pastor". (sorry)

[www.fia.com]

I agree that Bruno still needs to improve in qually etc. But the dry pace at the end of the race was fine.

Edit - Hold on a minute. I'm going to total up the relevent lap times on the last stint. I think Pastor might have been faster overall... OK. Senna looks like he was bringing the tyres in slower. His first 2 laps were 2 seconds slower each!
Including those 2 odd laps, from lap 41 to 53 Maldonado's average lap was .4 sec per lap quicker. Though he was chasing points and Senna was holding position.
Interesting... Or not, you decide... (Sm120)

Bad Pastor was on traffic for those last fast laps.

Maldonado was much faster on the laps that both had clear air.

Re: Article claims Bottas almost certain to replace Senna in 2013
pgj 28 March, 2012 21:14
Next year's driver lineup will be dictated by finances. If we pull in a big sponsor we will have more freedom to choose our drivers. If we lose out on concorde agreement funds we will be even more restricted than we were this season. I like what I have seen from our current paring. I would much rather have the lineup decided by driving ability.

Cut down on the k1'isms please! Lol



Williams and proud of it.

Re: Article claims Bottas almost certain to replace Senna in 2013
Pancho Pepe 28 March, 2012 23:56
Crusty, Chavez is leading comfortably in the polls right now. But given the fact that the FW34 is a good car and -as Pastor loves to say- "for sure" he will have good races and maybe podiums, the next president, even if its not him, will most likely keep the sponsorship.

Venezuela has, now officially, more oil than Saudi Arabia (we are just getting stated on getting it out of the ground). So, budget-wise, the F1 presence is a drop in a bucket here, and with the projected income due to increased oil production, it will be even more irrelevant.

The F1 presence has been of an enormous value for PDVSA, which in spite of being the number one company in Latin America in terms of revenue, and #27 worldwide (Santander is #35), it was virtually unknown outside the oil industry.

Same for the "Venezuela" brand image, which up until recently suffered from very negative media on the economic side (criticize Chavez for anything else, but the economy is doing great, the middle class is growing, poverty dropped by more than half... therefore you see his high poll numbers). Nobody now can continue saying that Venezuela is a country in ruins as they were saying up until recently, and the F1 presence has helped in that regard.

So, for any president in Venezuela, as things are now, F1 is a keeper.

Local politicians' criticisms of the F1 deal have all backfired, as the majority of the population sees no problem with it.

Now, did you know we even bought a GP2 team? Venezuela GP Lazarus replaced Super Nova this year. We have 3 drivers in GP2 (none of which will make it into F1, unfortunately, as PDVSA will not invest further in them, and no F1 team will take drivers that cannot at least win races in GP2). We now have a national program to help develop drivers in motorsport.

So, Bottas? Well, is he "the real deal"? Maybe, maybe not. Rosberg was the real deal but he's being outpaced by a senior citizen with diminished reflexes and inferior physical condition. Hulkenberg was also the real deal, but he has been skipped by the big teams after sadly being dumped by Williams (should have dumped Rubens, sorry to say)... why didn't Ferrari grasped him? He'd probably be better than Massa. If he was really the next Shumi, some big team would have him at least as 3rd driver. For many Sutil was also the real deal.

Remember Antonio Pizzonia? Boy, I will not forget how much good press that guy was receiving 10 years ago! "Jungle boy", "Future champion", and yes; "real deal". Teams fought for him after he had won Formula Renault and British F3... SFW sacked Marc Gene to bring him along after Pizza boy was dumped by Jaguar mid season. At Williams was nowhere near Montoya... He ended up as our tester, and then totally out of F1 as nobody wanted him. Then, not even in GP2 he did well. Pizzonia had good speed in testing and in lower categories, but race weekend pressures in F1 and a well known lack of discipline, ruined his career.

So, yes, Bottas could be the real deal, but you know what? so could be Pastor or Bruno. Although, if Bruno doesn't start to match Pastor's speed, he could be another Pizzonia (I doubt it, though). From Valtteri we have only seen glimpses. How would he perform under pressure? I have no idea.

I really think that Williams needs some stability right now. Show that the team is back in solid form, that the engineering team is again a solid one, that the team can innovate, win races or score podiums, and then we can think about attracting top drivers and sponsors.

Remember, top drivers can also be "paid" drivers. Santander would NOT, I repeat would NOT be at Ferrari if Alonso wasn't racing there. Can you confirm you understood the message?

In any case, if we pull out the great performances I think we can have this year with these two drivers, the sponsors would be knocking on our doors (or at least opening their doors when we knock). I do agree that we might have had more TV time in the 1st two 2012 races, than in most of the whole 2011 season. So, that is very important for sponsors.

Lets hope a good replacement for Adam Parr is found soon. A top manager is paramount when it comes to showing the stability and strength needed to succeed and attract more top talent.

Optimism and confidence is what I feel about the team at this moment. Its been a few rocky years for Williams recently. We are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Re: Article claims Bottas almost certain to replace Senna in 2013
pgj 29 March, 2012 02:38
It is difficult to judge whether the soundbites we get on news services are truly reflective of public opinion in Venezuela. Any sponsorship deal is easier to sell if it delivers its objectives and it is successful. PDVSA being associated with the front of the f1 grid falls into that category. Unfortunately, too many of Williams' recent sponsors have not been able to say that. You make some interesting points. There is also an element in the press that seems to take delight in reporting on troubles at Williams. It also relishes trying to prize away sponsors from Williams by scaremongering. It has happened many times over the years. It is noticeable that Williams annual report this year, has failed to bring with it forecasts of Williams' demise from Chris Silt. In the end what will be will be. I hope the PDVSA logo becomes as iconic as Mobil, ici, and cannon.

I gave up trying to predict Williams' driver lineup a long time ago. I would like to see this pair be given two of three years together. We need some stability with our lineup. But that will come with longterm financial stability.



Williams and proud of it.

Re: Article claims Bottas almost certain to replace Senna in 2013
solus 29 March, 2012 03:29
In 2012, qualifying is not important,even start in 24th place, you can finish in top ten (except HRT,Marussia and Catterham), sorry for my wrong opinion!

Re: Article claims Bottas almost certain to replace Senna in 2013
j-s 29 March, 2012 03:33
The infatuation with Bottas may come from the fact that perhaps he's a diamond in the rough... and he's ours, all ours!. Very romantic.

In fact, there's no objective reason to believe he's THAT good. He's a test driver who's been around for a while, around 23 years old, not that young anymore, had limited running, hasn't had a real breakthrough, hasn't really wreaked havoc in lower formulas, hasn't flattened his teammates during practice.... but I guess I can see how some could fall in love with the idea of having a great driver roaming around the garage and then try to justify their driverlust with selective and out-of-context facts.

I'm not saying he's terrible. He's probably a very competitive driver. Probably on the same level as our current pair, who I believe will be more evenly matched as the season develops. And if they don't, well, Williams would opt for a paydriver anyways so Bottas is out of the question.

Re: Article claims Bottas almost certain to replace Senna in 2013
Anderis 29 March, 2012 08:49
Can't agree really about Bottas here. There is no reason why he wouldn't be able to become absolutely top driver in the near future. To be honest, I couldn't say the same about Senna and Maldonado when they were right before their F1 first races. Both had relatively late F1 starts and statistics show that in last several years you really have to start in F1 younger than 25 to become absolutely top driver. So did Alonso, Hamilton, Button, Vettel, Schumacher, Rosberg, Raikkonen etc. (you don't have to consider all of them like an absolutely top drivers, but in fact all proven top drivers in F1 in last few years were younger than Pastor and Bruno when they were racing in F1 first time). Kovalainen and Webber are the only drivers this milenium that won F1 race and started in F1 older than 25. But both proved to be struggling in top cars against top team-mates. What is more, Senna was question mark due to the fact that he hasn't been racing for years and Maldonado was question mark due to the fact that he needed more time than some other drivers to deliver top performances in GP2 (I agree he was decent from the beginning, though) and was reported to be accident-prone.

I remember several years ago, Polish driver Giermaziak (who's driving at Porsche Supercup now), was in contact with one of the websites about racing in Poland. He was competing in one of the lower single-seatter formulas and I remember one time he wrote in one of his race reports something like "The winner was Bottas- of course".

I watched some of GP3 races last year and Bottas was absolutely astonishing.

Do you really expect him to flatten our current drivers in practise sessions? The fact that he was equal to Pastor says a lot. Senna after more than 20 F1 races and driving F1 car for 3 different teams was asked by some people for more time and driving before judgement. And you expect the guy, who's first real F1 test was less than half year ago to flatten them that quickly?

He has been really mature in F1 car so far. Was praised for doing his job properly and was relatively quick with no mistakes, which is not a normal thing for such an inexperienced driver. Do you remember how often Maldonado was crashing last year during winter? Other weren't doing so much mistakes, but were really lacking pace from the beginning, like Alguersuari or even Vettel, who couldn't even match Liuzzi pace at dry circuit in his first races in Toro Rosso.

Of course, F1 is such a sophisticated competition that you never can be sure. But there is no reason to think that Bottas cannot become top driver in the future. He's more likely to do so than Maldonado and Senna from reasons that I have written earlier.

I have no problem with Maldonado and Senna, I think Pastor is good enough to be driving Williams F1 car and I give Senna some more time to deliver too. But I insist that Bottas is certainly more promising than them. Promise doesn't necessarily mean that he will eventually be much better, but I insist that there is no reason to claim that he couldn't become better soon. Engineers from Williams know more but if they are that pleased with Bottas as it is reported, then Valtteri is the driver that is worth some trust from Williams team and they should give him a chance if there is such a possibility.

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