Williams have a big decision to make about their driver line-up for 2013, and the outcome of the 2012 F1 Grand Prix of India at the Buddh International Circuit won’t have made that decision any easier.

Pastor Maldonado might show flashes of genius that include his race-winning performance the Spanish Grand Prix in May, but he’s only finished in the points in three races so far this season – with the Indian GP being another finish out of the points for the Venezuelan.

Bruno Senna on the other hand has finished in the points in eight of the 17 races so far this season, including the point he picked up for tenth place in Greater Noida this weekend.

“We had a strong car in the race,” said Senna after the finish of the Indian GP. “Getting a point means that I am happy with today’s performance.

“It was a fun race because I was fighting with cars that were very similar on pace so I had to make my overtaking manoeuvres stick, and so that was very satisfying,” he said.

Reading between the lines, the most satisfying moment of all for Senna was most likely when he managed to slip past his own team mate on lap 17, when an opportunity presented itself as a result of a battle between Maldonado and Romain Grosjean over tenth place.

But that was by no means the low-point of the race for Maldonado: that came on lap 31, when Maldonado exited the pits and launched a spirited attack on Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi for 11th place. He managed to pull it off, but when Maldonado tried to move back onto the racing line going into turn 5, he found that he wasn’t as clear of the Sauber’s front wing as he had thought.

“The car was feeling good today and I was confident that I was going to score points, but my race was effectively over when I was hit and picked up a puncture which put me towards the back and lost me a lot of time,” he explained.

“It was a very unlucky race for me in the end, but we can take some positives in the fact that the pace of the car has improved and we should be more competitive for the final three races of the season.”

Senna agreed with his team mate’s thoughts about the improved pace of the Williams: “The car has felt much better this weekend so we will head to the next race [in Abu Dhabi] with a lot more confidence.”

source: © crash.net