The final seat at Williams now looks likey to fall to either Adrian Sutil or Valtteri Bottas, with a final decision yet to be made on exactly who will partner Pastor Maldonado.
News that Kimi Raikkonen had signed with the team for 2012 was rife just a month ago, but with reports that the Finn was demanding an equity stake in the team, given Williams inability to pay him the wage he demands due to their current financial difficulties, the outfit has now dropped that line of enquiry.
Raikkonen’s best chance of returning to the grid now lies with Renault, but that seat is also looking an unlikely bet given the Enstone based team already has three drivers to choose from; Vitaly Petrov, Romain Grosjean and Bruno Senna.
With Rubens Barrichello out of contract, and Williams making very little in the way of movement to re-sign the veteran, it looks likely that either Sutil – who is out of contract at Force India – and GP3 champion Bottas, will fight it out for the final seat.
Both bring potential sponsorship money, though Sutil is believed to bring more with backing from Medion and Mercedes-Benz as well as his experience which shone through at the season finale in Brazil at the weekend.
Bottas however impressed the team during the young driver test, but given Maldonado’s inexperience of developing a car, partnered with a rookie, Sutil looks to be the safer and more likely option for the struggling Williams.
Another scenario could see Maldonado lose his seat following the investigation into his backing from the government owned PDVSA oil-giant which also sponsors the team, though the Venezuelan admits he isn’t too worried about that.
“I don’t know exactly what is happening but I don’t worry about it,” he said in Brazil. “I’m doing well, I’m doing my job, the best I can and I feel a lot of confidence from the country, from the sponsor and from the team. So I am really happy to be here and I would like to continue for sure.”
