Pastor Maldonado has said that he is "happy" to be leaving Williams at the end of the 2013 season.
The Grove based squad announced their 2014 line-up of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas earlier in the week, leaving the Venezuelan driver without a drive.
However, he admitted during the fans FOTA FORUM in Austin, Texas, that it was his choice to leave the team, who have struggled this season and scored just one point. The decision was made at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Rather than feeling sad to depart the team with which he took his maiden Formula 1 victory with, he is happy to be departing.
"I am very happy," he said. "Since a couple of months I was in conversation with the team and I wanted to leave the team. That is it. I am very happy for that.
"It was my decision. In Singapore I decide to leave the team more or less and it was 100 per cent my decision."
Discussing his reasons for leaving the team, Maldonado believed Williams did not provide him with a car that he thinks he deserved, even claiming that he did more for the team than they did for him.
"I think I delivered more to the team than they for me," he admitted. "We find a victory, we find a very good result last year, and even this year we have been doing quite well races. But this is not everything.
"I am waiting for something more, I am expecting something more from F1, maybe I am learning more this year than last year. For sure it was a tough year, very hard for all the team, and my decision was because I was not good [happy] enough in the team personally.
"I wanted to try something different, and maybe it is a very important time for me and my career. It is a tough decision but a great one."
The 28-year-old has been linked to drives at Lotus and was reported by Blick's F1 correspondent Roger Benoitto to have visited Sauber's Hinwil factory recently.
He insists that nothing is yet finalised, but he has a few options available: "For sure we are talking with Lotus, but I have a couple more options," he said. "Maybe I have an idea [of what I want to do].
"We are working on that. I hope to have the final decision soon - and a clear route for next year."
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| (c) Octane Photographic |
However, he admitted during the fans FOTA FORUM in Austin, Texas, that it was his choice to leave the team, who have struggled this season and scored just one point. The decision was made at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Rather than feeling sad to depart the team with which he took his maiden Formula 1 victory with, he is happy to be departing.
"I am very happy," he said. "Since a couple of months I was in conversation with the team and I wanted to leave the team. That is it. I am very happy for that.
"It was my decision. In Singapore I decide to leave the team more or less and it was 100 per cent my decision."
Discussing his reasons for leaving the team, Maldonado believed Williams did not provide him with a car that he thinks he deserved, even claiming that he did more for the team than they did for him.
"I think I delivered more to the team than they for me," he admitted. "We find a victory, we find a very good result last year, and even this year we have been doing quite well races. But this is not everything.
"I am waiting for something more, I am expecting something more from F1, maybe I am learning more this year than last year. For sure it was a tough year, very hard for all the team, and my decision was because I was not good [happy] enough in the team personally.
"I wanted to try something different, and maybe it is a very important time for me and my career. It is a tough decision but a great one."
The 28-year-old has been linked to drives at Lotus and was reported by Blick's F1 correspondent Roger Benoitto to have visited Sauber's Hinwil factory recently.
He insists that nothing is yet finalised, but he has a few options available: "For sure we are talking with Lotus, but I have a couple more options," he said. "Maybe I have an idea [of what I want to do].
"We are working on that. I hope to have the final decision soon - and a clear route for next year."
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