Pastor Maldonado looking forward to 2013 alongside Valtteri Bottas

Pastor Maldonado believes 2013 will be an important season for Williams, as they strive to build upon their competitiveness witnessed throughout the 2012 season. Despite the Venezuelan driver securing the team’s first victory since 2004 at Barcelona, Williams still struggled on regular occasions within the midfield.

After taking an illustrious victory at the Spanish Grand Prix back in May, Pastor Maldonado entered a frustrating points-drought which lasted until the Japanese Grand Prix in October. During this period, Bruno Senna scored all the points for Williams as Maldonado struggled to return to his once highly competitive ways. However, it was clear during the season that Maldonado was an exceedingly quick driver, with the 27-year-old qualifying 3rd at Valencia, 2nd at Singapore and 3rd at Abu Dhabi.

Pastor Maldonado is confident that he and the team will continue to build upon their success in 2012 next season, and is aiming to challenge for points and podium finishes on a regular basis. Apart from the team’s victory in Barcelona, Williams failed to return to the podium all season with 5th at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix the best the team could achieve.

“2013 will be an important season for the team.” Explained Pastor Maldonado, “In my first season we had a lot of problems with the car, but this year we made a big step forward in performance and managed to capture a memorable win in Barcelona. We have a lot of potential as a team and next year we must continue this upward trend and produce a car that can challenge for strong points finishes and podiums at a wide range of circuits.

“The goal is to be more competitive next year and have a car that is consistently in the points and challenging for podiums. This year we showed excellent pace at a number of tracks such as Barcelona, Monaco and Abu Dhabi, but we didn’t have the consistency to maintain that at every Grand Prix. We have all the tools needed to push the top teams, and hopefully we can learn from this year and move further up the field.”

However, next season the Venezuelan driver will be partnered at Williams by the team’s former reserve driver Valtteri Bottas, who will be replacing Bruno Senna within the team. The 23-year-old Finn has already shown his skill behind the wheel of Formula 1 machinery, after partaking in fifteen practice sessions throughout the season. Bottas was also crowned the 2011 GP3 Champion, a fact which will make him only the second former GP3 driver to start an official race next March alongside the Sauber of Esteban Gutierrez.

Pastor Maldonado is looking forward to the 2013 season alongside his new team-mate, with the two already having worked together for the last two seasons in the sport. Pastor Maldonado is eager to offer advice to the rookie, with the Venezuelan driver hopeful both he and Bottas can start scoring points at the first race in March.

“It will be a new experience and one that I am looking forward to.” Said Pastor Maldonado, “As a rookie he will have a lot to learn, but from what I have seen so far he has a lot of talent. It’s in the team’s interest for both of us to be scoring points from the very first race, so I can provide advice to him as someone who has two seasons under my belt. I’ve spent a lot of time with him this year as he has driven in many FP1 sessions and travelled with the team and we get on very well which is always helpful.”

Williams enjoyed a far more successful season this year in comparison to 2011, when the team scored a miserable five points all year. This season saw the Grove-based outfit storm to 76 points in the Constructors’ Championship, a tally both Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas will be hoping to emulate in 2013. Both have shown they are capable of winning races throughout their careers’, and they will unquestionably be striving to do so once again when the 2013 Formula 1 season kicks off in March.

Follow me on Twitter - @AndyYoungF1