Bruno Senna confident of securing 2013 drive despite DTM test

Bruno Senna is remaining confident of securing a drive for 2013 in Formula 1, after the Brazilian driver was replaced at Williams by the team’s reserve driver Valtteri Bottas. Senna is currently in talks with both Force India and Caterham, however the 29-year-old has reportedly carried out a DTM test with Mercedes.

Despite this test around Portugal’s Estoril circuit, Bruno Senna is still targeting a drive in Formula 1 for 2013. With Valtteri Bottas replacing him at Williams alongside Pastor Maldonado, Bruno Senna’s options for next season in F1 are between Force India or Caterham, both of which have yet to confirm their full driver line-up.

However, the Brazilian driver is likely to find tough competition for the remaining vacancies on the 2013 grid, with the likes of Paul di Resta, Jaime Alguersuari, Adrian Sutil, Jules Bianchi, Heikki Kovalainen, Giedo van der Garde and Vitaly Petrov all likely candidates for the drives at Force India and Caterham.

"You’re never relaxed until you have a nice signed contract, but we’re working very hard," explained Bruno Senna to Autosport. "Chris [Goodwin, Senna’s manager] is a busy little bee. He’s been doing his job very well. Hopefully before the end of the year we’ll have a nice clear path to follow."

Throughout the 2012 season, Bruno Senna was replaced by Valtteri Bottas during fifteen practice sessions. Unlike other teams such as Force India and Caterham, Bottas always replaced Senna within the team, partnering Pastor Maldonado during the opening practice session of each of the fifteen race weekends. This understandably fueled rumors that Bottas was set to replace Senna, and made the Brazilian’s 2012 season all the more difficult.

“It’s a tough World Championship," continue Senna to Autosport. "This has probably been the toughest Formula 1 World Championship in many years. I think that coming into it as my first real year in Formula 1 was already a challenge. And then missing practice sessions all over the season, probably missing about 30 per cent of all the practice sessions of the year, is a lot of practice missed. It’s made my year much more difficult. But still I’ve learned a lot. It’s been a very big learning curve for me, and a very good one."

If Bruno Senna fails to find a drive for next season, this would leave Felipe Massa as the only Brazilian driver on the grid. This would be the first time only one Brazilian driver has lined up for the start of the season since 1971, when the great Emerson Fittipaldi raced for Team Lotus.

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