In tandem with the Massa story Bruno Senna's performance came under the same scrutiny, however this was based purely upon Pastor Maldonado's win in Barcelona rather than Senna's abilities behind the wheel. In a post on the 18th May I assessed Senna's performance as more than adequate on the basis that, unlike Maldonado, Senna was bringing in the week to week points scores. Maldonado, this season, appears to be an all-or-nothing driver which only benefits the team if you don't crash out in your quest for glory.
Frank has come out in support of Bruno in conversation with James Allen.
In my (Minus Bahrain) Drivers Championship Bruno Senna is on 24 points while Pastor Maldonado continues to sit on 29 points (having scored no points since winning in Spain). What we have is a situation where Maldonado scored 29 points in 5 races (25 of those from the win in Spain) while Senna scored 14 in those first 5 races and another 10 since, with 6 points in Hungary.
It may be that Senna needs to improve his Qualifying rather than his racecraft, while the opposite might be considered to hold true for Maldonado.
A detailed look at their overall season shows the following:
Race
|
Maldonado
|
Senna
|
||
Grid Position
|
Race Position
|
Grid Position
|
Race Position
|
|
8
|
13
|
14
|
16
|
|
11
|
19
|
13
|
6
|
|
13
|
8
|
14
|
7
|
|
21
|
Retired
|
15
|
22
|
|
1
|
1
|
17
|
Retired
|
|
24
|
Retired
|
13
|
10
|
|
22
|
13
|
16
|
17
|
|
3
|
12
|
14
|
10
|
|
7
|
16
|
13
|
9
|
|
5
|
15
|
14
|
17
|
|
8
|
13
|
9
|
7
|
|
In eight of the eleven races so far Pastor has ended up either retired (Monaco: Maldonado crashing into the back of De La Rosa, Bahrain Puncture) or finishing lower than his qualifying position. In six of the eleven races Bruno has improved his final position with one retirement in Spain (Schumacher's crash into the back of the Williams).
In Melbourne Pastor showed how quick the car could be, pushing Alonso hard (who finished 5th), however he went lost the back of the car and ended up in 13th. Senna got a touch on the first corner, made an extra pitstop and then himself and Massa had a coming together in Turn 4, finishing 16th. Neither car finished the race.
Malaysia next Pastor started in 11th and was running 10th until the Renault engine failed with a lap to go. In the tricky conditions which resulted in the race being red flagged, Bruno found himself at the back of the reformed grid and fought his way through the field to finish 6th.
Double points finish in China with both drivers racing hard to make the two stop strategy work. Senna beats Maldonado.
you know my feelings about racing in Bahrain. I didn't watch the race at all but officially Pastor retired and Bruno came in 22nd so I'm assuming nothing went right on the day.
Spain we know was Pastor's day, Bruno got shunted out of it by Schumacher.
In Monaco Pastor got penalised for driving into Perez in Free Practice 3, a repeat of his deliberate nudge on Hamilton in Belgium last year, began from 22nd after taking another penalty for changing his gearbox and then collided into the back of De la Rosa at Turn 4 where Pedro was attempting to brake to avoid the Grosjean accident ahead. Bruno drove a safe race from 13th to 10th - but as we know Monaco is an impossible race and this years was so bad that I posted that it was time to stop racing there (Don't judge me I hate the idea of it too)
Canada was compromised by the decision of Williams to run a one stop strategy as well as starting well down the grid. Maldonado's race was further compromised by another gearbox change.
In Valencia (Europe) Starting from 3rd on the grid Maldonado ran a great race until the moment of madness with Hamilton with two laps remaining. I'm not actually blaming Pastor for this one (even though he got a penalty) because I'm pretty sure that Lewis should have given him space to come back onto the track in order that he could attempt to take the second corner. Having said that Maldonado should have waited and taken Hamilton easily (who was on old tyres) at a later point in the lap. That is a statement about his racecraft rather than his abilities in the car. Senna drove a decent if unimpressive race and ended up taking the Maldonado point for 10th. Pastor should have had a podium.
I was at Silverstone which turned into a great race after the very wet FP and Qualifying. Maldonado had another "incident" with Sergio Perez on lap 11 and this fundamentally changed his race from points scoring to "Null points", having qualified 7th he ended up in 16th. Bruno stayed out of trouble and harassed Nico Hulkenburg before overtaking him to clinch 9th and another solid two points.
In Germany Pastor lost a lot of downforce after running over debris on the track and losing some bodywork so the good qualifying position of 5th ended up being a final position of 15th. Bruno had a coming together with Grosjean on the first lap which punctured his tyre and the two of them lost so much time that they couldn't make it up, finishing 17th and 18th respectively.
Hungary saw Pastor get another penalty (drive through) for contact with Di Resta on the 47th lap, which pushed him down to 13th position in the race while Bruno drove a strong weekend qualifying in 9th and finishing 7th ahead of Webber. He kept Button behind him for most of the race with says as much about the track as it does about Senna. But it was his first time to get through to Q3 and he maintained his cool to bring the car home for a good points scoring place.
I think he's worthy of his place in the team. Botta's ability means that he is in the frame for a race seat but would you give away Senna's or Maldonado's? Maldonado is quick but his temperament and race-craft are redolent of Hamilton's disastrous first year after firing his Dad. Senna is quietly impressive in the races but seems to lack the qualifying speed which will bring him consistently into a position to challenge for the bigger points haul from 5th upwards.
If Bottas could replicate Maldonado's qualifying ability and Senna's racing ability then he must be a shoo in to take one of the seats but I'm glad Frank has to make the choice as to who's to make way and not me.
