Senna confident for 2013 despite the difficulties of 2012
Bruno Senna has not yet secured his future for the 2013 season. Despite generally disappointing performances, the Brazilian remains optimistic about the rest of his career, especially since he knows the reasons for some underperformances.
With four Grand Prix remaining until the end of the championship, Williams has still not revealed the names of its drivers for the 2013 season. While Pastor Maldonado is expected to continue, Bruno Senna’s future is often in question, and Valtteri Bottas is mentioned as the favorite to succeed the Brazilian next year.
Despite everything, Senna remains focused on the end of his season and is relatively optimistic about the continuation of his career in Formula 1: “If you keep thinking about not being settled for next year, then you start putting too much pressure on your driving and things don’t go well. For me, the goal is to make myself indispensable and drive as well as possible,” Senna explains to Autosport.
Since the beginning of the season, Bruno Senna has been regularly replaced by Valtteri Bottas during the first practice session of the Grand Prix. An hour and a half less track time which, according to the Brazilian, weighs heavily when approaching the qualifications.
« I didn’t expect it to be so complicated without the first practice session because until it happens to you, you don’t realize how penalizing it can be. Today, I have a different opinion about giving almost all my Fridays of the year to someone else because if you have a problem after that, it practically means your weekend is over, » indicates the Brazilian driver.
A solution that Senna hopes to see change if Williams were to renew their confidence in him for 2013: « It was part of the discussions between me and the team. They understand that it may have hindered my performance during certain weekends. The team knows my worth and what I have done in the race. »
Throughout a Grand Prix weekend, the track constantly evolves, and with cars that are particularly close in terms of performance, the smallest detail can make a difference. It is in this context that the lack of running on Friday is particularly felt.
« It’s difficult to get in the car for a session where the track has already evolved and try to understand in which direction it is evolving in terms of car balance, speed in each corner, etc. Sometimes we found good performances during free practice 3, but then the track changed a little bit for qualifying, and the drivers with more kilometers knew it was going to happen, so they made a small adjustment in the settings to compensate, » analyzes Bruno Senna.
Another important factor in the performance of a single-seater and a driver is the tires. This year, the Pirelli tires are particularly sensitive to changes in temperature but also to different driving styles. In 2013, the Italian manufacturer will offer revised tires that should better suit the driving style of the current Williams driver.
« Next year we will have new tires, which could slightly change the hierarchy. Pirelli is trying to make the tires, let’s say, a bit less sensitive to driving style so that more drivers with different driving styles can achieve the same performances, » explains Senna.
