F1 2013 - Mid-Season Report

Williams (1 Point)

It really has been a terrible year for Williams so far. The poor performance of the car, which languishes only above Caterham and Marussia, aswell as restructuring within the team means that this season will probably feel like a right-off with only one point to show for their efforts. It€™s the nadir of this once great team but hopefully some solid performances can be put into by their two talented drivers. 2014 can€™t come soon enough.

Pastor Maldanado - 6 (1 Point)

A pretty difficult season for Pastor, with that win in Catalunya back in 2012 feeling like a lifetime ago. The fact is the car is very poor and there is only so much a driver can do to drag it home. Race pace hasn€™t been great, with the team struggling to push teams such as Toro Rosso and Sauber instead both Maldonado and Bottas are fighting their own mini battle between them. Qualifying pace also hasn€™t been anything to write home about either, with team mate Vallteri Bottas winning the inter team battle so far 6-4. When considering Bottas is a rookie that figure looks a lot worse. One bright spot however came Sunday at the Hungarian Grand Prix when finally Williams scored their 1st point thanks to Maldonado€™s 10th place finish. The 2nd half of the season really needs to see an improvement from both team and driver.

Valtteri Bottas - 7 (0 Points)

A very impressive debut season so far. Most rookies when coming into F1 are expected to struggle at 1st and then gradually develop until they feel comfortable. Bottas has proven he is right on the pace with team Maldonado in race conditions and has out qualified him 6-4. Despite not scoring any points Bottas should be pleased at this start. The one magical moment Bottas can take away from this season is his remarkable 3rd place in qualifying at the Canadian Grand Prix. Mixed conditions allowed Bottas to demonstrate his raw potential as in all three qualifying sessions he was pushing the top spots of the grid, eventually ending up with that 3rd place. He couldn€™t convert this into any points due to the poor pace of the Williams car. Let€™s hope that Williams can pull something out of the back in the 2nd half of the season.