It's almost hard to believe that Williams was the Formula 1 team to beat just 15 years ago, easily outperforming rivals McLaren and Ferrari.
The 2011 season was a complete disaster for the British team. This year's switch to Renault power dramatically boosted competitiveness, with Pastor Maldonado taking Williams' first victory since 2004 in Spain.
However, that totally unexpected win was nothing more than a flash in the pan. For the rest of the season, both Maldonado and his teammate, Bruno Senna, scored inconsistent results in qualifying and the races.
The engineering team eventually traced the problem as inconsistency in the balance of the FW34. A solution was found, but the performances did not significantly improve, although Senna became an almost regular point scorer.
Based in Grove, U.K., the team ended the season in 8th place with a total of 76 points.
Pastor Maldonado
15th in the Driver's championship with 45 points
Best place in qualifications: pole (once, Spain)
Best race result: 1st (once, Spain)
Retired 5 times
Bruno Senna
16th in the Driver's championship with 31 points
Best place in qualifications: 9th (once, Hungary)
Best race result: 6th (once, Malaysia)
Retired 2 times
Designed by a team led by former McLaren engineer, Mike Coughlan, the Renault-powered Williams FW34 was quite effective at certain circuits, while being seriously outpaced at others.
Maldonado secured his maiden pole and Grand Prix victory in Barcelona, Spain, becoming the first Venezuelan driver to take an F1 win. Then he failed to score points in the next nine Grands Prix before finally picking up more points with 8th place in Japan.
However, Maldonado was criticized and penalized by the race stewards for causing multiple and avoidable collisions -- blindingly fast, but he must cool down.
Ayrton Senna's nephew, Bruno Senna, struggled to reach heights of his race-winning teammate thanks to tire troubles during qualifying, but was a more consistent point-scorer than the Venezuelan. He ended the season 14 points back from Maldonado and was dropped by Williams for 2013.
Since he started racing at the “old” age (in the motorsport world) of 21, Bruno's main problem is his lack of valuable racing experience. Although he has solid and loyal sponsors, he cannot buy experience...
The 2011 season was a complete disaster for the British team. This year's switch to Renault power dramatically boosted competitiveness, with Pastor Maldonado taking Williams' first victory since 2004 in Spain.
However, that totally unexpected win was nothing more than a flash in the pan. For the rest of the season, both Maldonado and his teammate, Bruno Senna, scored inconsistent results in qualifying and the races.
The engineering team eventually traced the problem as inconsistency in the balance of the FW34. A solution was found, but the performances did not significantly improve, although Senna became an almost regular point scorer.
 |
| Photo: Williams F1 Team |
Based in Grove, U.K., the team ended the season in 8th place with a total of 76 points.
Pastor Maldonado
15th in the Driver's championship with 45 points
Best place in qualifications: pole (once, Spain)
Best race result: 1st (once, Spain)
Retired 5 times
Bruno Senna
16th in the Driver's championship with 31 points
Best place in qualifications: 9th (once, Hungary)
Best race result: 6th (once, Malaysia)
Retired 2 times
Designed by a team led by former McLaren engineer, Mike Coughlan, the Renault-powered Williams FW34 was quite effective at certain circuits, while being seriously outpaced at others.
Maldonado secured his maiden pole and Grand Prix victory in Barcelona, Spain, becoming the first Venezuelan driver to take an F1 win. Then he failed to score points in the next nine Grands Prix before finally picking up more points with 8th place in Japan.
 |
| Photo: Williams F1 Team |
However, Maldonado was criticized and penalized by the race stewards for causing multiple and avoidable collisions -- blindingly fast, but he must cool down.
Ayrton Senna's nephew, Bruno Senna, struggled to reach heights of his race-winning teammate thanks to tire troubles during qualifying, but was a more consistent point-scorer than the Venezuelan. He ended the season 14 points back from Maldonado and was dropped by Williams for 2013.
Since he started racing at the “old” age (in the motorsport world) of 21, Bruno's main problem is his lack of valuable racing experience. Although he has solid and loyal sponsors, he cannot buy experience...