Williams 2012

[roadie]

Agreed.

As for Senna, it's far too early to judge. The next race will provide us with a much better picture, especially if he's not assaulted in the race by 2 different drivers!

I'm really looking forward to the car getting more running in clean air. My feeling at the moment is that the FW34 is in the same kind of area as the Mercedes and Lotus race pace wise, although the Mercedes doesn't look to conserve the tyres that well. However, I agree with Gillian that it's going to take until after the first 4 races to get a complete picture.

[FW17]

Great work Malder! Who would have guessed this sort of performance six months ago.

I would have absolutely guessed Maldonado's performance 6 months ago. Just go back to Monaco and watch moldy Maldy absolutely rape Lewis, who honestly made a good fair pass.

The kid has some pace but nothing special. His mistakes have far outweighed his pace to date.
Hopefully a good williams car isn't totally wasted.

Didnt PM bin it on lap 5 and loose 2 places too? PM was consistant all through the race but he would have finished ahead of Mark had it not been for that first mistake.

[SeijaKessen]

Agreed.

As for Senna, it's far too early to judge. The next race will provide us with a much better picture, especially if he's not assaulted in the race by 2 different drivers!

I'm really looking forward to the car getting more running in clean air. My feeling at the moment is that the FW34 is in the same kind of area as the Mercedes and Lotus race pace wise, although the Mercedes doesn't look to conserve the tyres that well. However, I agree with Gillian that it's going to take until after the first 4 races to get a complete picture.

I am personally cheering for Bruno over Maldonado.

He seems to have a lot of issues with race starts and getting hit by other drivers, but I'm not sure if there is an easy way around that. Massa did the same crap late in the race by running into him.

How does everyone feel about Williams' chances in Malaysia?

[lebesset]

Agreed.

As for Senna, it's far too early to judge. The next race will provide us with a much better picture, especially if he's not assaulted in the race by 2 different drivers!

I'm really looking forward to the car getting more running in clean air. My feeling at the moment is that the FW34 is in the same kind of area as the Mercedes and Lotus race pace wise, although the Mercedes doesn't look to conserve the tyres that well. However, I agree with Gillian that it's going to take until after the first 4 races to get a complete picture.

it's not going to take 4 races to know that they should have kept reubens ....points on the board equals sponsors and reubens is a safe pair of hands

wonder if they could get him back even if it does mean the loss of the senna money

[SeijaKessen]

Agreed.

As for Senna, it's far too early to judge. The next race will provide us with a much better picture, especially if he's not assaulted in the race by 2 different drivers!

I'm really looking forward to the car getting more running in clean air. My feeling at the moment is that the FW34 is in the same kind of area as the Mercedes and Lotus race pace wise, although the Mercedes doesn't look to conserve the tyres that well. However, I agree with Gillian that it's going to take until after the first 4 races to get a complete picture.

it's not going to take 4 races to know that they should have kept reubens ....points on the board equals sponsors and reubens is a safe pair of hands

wonder if they could get him back even if it does mean the loss of the senna money

Well one has to consider that perhaps the only way Williams can become competitive again is to essentially take all of the sponsor money they can get from Maldonado and Senna and use it to improve everything.

I don't think either driver will be driving for Williams in 1-2 years.

[lebesset]

Agreed.

As for Senna, it's far too early to judge. The next race will provide us with a much better picture, especially if he's not assaulted in the race by 2 different drivers!

I'm really looking forward to the car getting more running in clean air. My feeling at the moment is that the FW34 is in the same kind of area as the Mercedes and Lotus race pace wise, although the Mercedes doesn't look to conserve the tyres that well. However, I agree with Gillian that it's going to take until after the first 4 races to get a complete picture.

it's not going to take 4 races to know that they should have kept reubens ....points on the board equals sponsors and reubens is a safe pair of hands

wonder if they could get him back even if it does mean the loss of the senna money

Well one has to consider that perhaps the only way Williams can become competitive again is to essentially take all of the sponsor money they can get from Maldonado and Senna and use it to improve everything.

I don't think either driver will be driving for Williams in 1-2 years.

not a sniff of senna money in this car , and they will be more likely to get sponsorship with better drivers

[roadie]

Did anyone watch the practice sessions? If so, how did the car look? Team quotes:

Pastor Maldonado - 11th: "We've had a good day of running in Malaysia. The team have done a great job and we completed our test programme without any problems. The car looks consistent and I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. It will be a challenge to get into Q3, but I will be pushing hard to achieve that."

Bruno Senna - 17th: "We had more work to do this afternoon having not run in P1, but our pace on longer runs looked good. We still need to improve throughout P3 tomorrow morning, but we have a good direction to go in. The track is very different to Australia and it will be a long, tough race but I am looking forward to it."

Mark Gillan, Chief Operations Engineer: "We have had a very constructive day's running, with all three drivers performing well in hot and humid conditions. We had no issues and completed the whole test programme. We are pleased with our preparation for the race, and we will look to build on this performance throughout the weekend."

[SeijaKessen]

Saw this over on Speed Channel's website...

F1: Senna To Surrender Practice Seat To Bottas On Most Fridays


Bruno Senna will give up his race car to Williams test driver Valtteri Bottas on 14 more occasions in 2012.

It has emerged that, every time young Finn Bottas takes to the track on a Friday this season, it will be at the wheel of Senna's Renault-powered FW34.

"Pastor Maldonado will keep his car in every session," Turun Sanomat correspondent Heikki Kulta reported.

Brazilian Senna confirmed the news to British Sky television while he sat out Friday's initial running in Malaysia.

Bottas, 22, was just quicker than the British team's number one driver Maldonado on Friday.

[GTROM]

Regarding Bottas running in FP1s, this was public information and announced already before the start of the season - it is not due to Senna's first race performance.

[MIKEY_!]

Great work Malder! Who would have guessed this sort of performance six months ago.

I would have absolutely guessed Maldonado's performance 6 months ago. Just go back to Monaco and watch moldy Maldy absolutely rape Lewis, who honestly made a good fair pass.

The kid has some pace but nothing special. His mistakes have far outweighed his pace to date.
Hopefully a good williams car isn't totally wasted.

Actually I was talking about the car but this must have been moved because of the Malder reference...

[nacho]

I must say I feel Williams is "paying" the price for having 2 pay drivers.

[SchumiSutil]

I would have love to see Sutil in this car !

[zoro_f1]

even bottas will perform better than these two guy's.

[SeijaKessen]

Bruno with a 6th place finish in Malaysia gets him 8 points and gets Williams 8 points for their first points of the season.

A shame Maldonado's engine blew otherwise they probably would have more.

I thought Bruno drove a good race...he still had the spinout in the beginning...not sure if he is just a terrible starter and assuming nothing goes wrong on the first lap, he starts doing better as the race goes on.

[Timbit]

Williams now have 3 more points than they received in the entirety of the 2011 season. This season is already a step forward!

Senna got a nudge/did the nudging from/of Maldonado on the first lap apparently, so he had to go in and get another front wing. After what happened in Australia (whereby Senna never really recovered from something similar), I thought it would be difficult for him to come through the grid. I actually thought Maldonado would finish ahead of him.

I mentioned this in the Malasyia race thread, but did anyone notice Maldonado stuffing up his pit stop (I believe for Intermediates)? He came in and Hamilton was released right behind him, and it looked like he totally missed the team. He did another tour and came in the next lap and got his tyres changed, which actually put him back a bit more than necessary. I don't believe Senna was in at the same time, but I thought it a little odd.

I was a little concerned with Senna and his pace relative to Maldonado (who seems to be quick but has his moments), but today's performance has got me behind him 100%. Great racing and great overtaking too.

I am not sure what Williams are doing with Bottas and using him in 15 FP1 sessions, all of which take over Senna's car. It seems counter productive for Senna's performance to have him sit out at 15 GPs (of a 20 race calendar). Senna even mentioned after Friday;s sessions that he was forced to play catch up as a result (his words). Are Williams preparing Bottas for a 2013 race seat? Sure looks like it.