Bottas to replace Senna during the season?

Valtteri Bottas was hired by the Williams F1 team as a reserve and test driver for the 2012 season, allowing him to drive the FW34 on Fridays during free practice 1 at certain races.

The Finnish driver participated in this year’s pre-season tests as well as in Malaysia, China, Bahrain, and Spain, each time replacing Bruno Senna. Bottas also drove during the Mugello tests and Mika Salo, now a commentator for the Finnish channel MTV3, stated that Bottas impressed the Williams team and that a full-time position during the season was not to be ruled out.

« Bottas is incredibly respected by the team. When I spoke with Frank Williams, he praised Valtteri’s talents, and he said he should race. I asked him when, and he told me it wouldn’t be very long. Yes, I read between the lines that he meant this season, » revealed Mika Salo, as quoted by GMM.

A replacement of Senna could involve the loss of sponsors brought by the Brazilian, but this should not weigh too heavily on the scale according to Mika Salo: «It’s a difficult situation for Williams, where both drivers bring money. But the positive point is that Frank Williams is not a businessman at heart, but a former racing driver. He thinks of nothing else but making sure his team is successful. Even if Senna is a good guy, he is not able to drive at the level he should be.»

Especially since Valtteri Bottas can also bring sponsors to the Grove team, as demonstrated by the recent arrival of two new Finnish partners.