Veteran Formula One driver Rubens Barrichello has insisted that he is still in the fight for the second seat at Williams for the 2012 season, despite mounting speculation suggesting that the team are in fact set to sign Bruno Senna.
Barrichello is aiming for a 20th straight season on the Formula One grid in 2012, having raced for Williams for the last two seasons.
However, the team is yet to confirm the identity of their second driver alongside Pastor Maldonado.
Recent reports on the F1 rumour mill have linked a whole wealth of drivers with the seat, including Senna, Adrian Sutil and Vitaly Petrov.
Sutil appears to be an outsider for the role following the news that he will attend a court hearing into his alleged assault on Lotus co-owner Eric Lux later this month.
And the latest reports from the BBC Sport website have suggested that Senna is now the frontrunner for the seat, bringing sponsorship with him to the team.
But Barrichello has insisted that he still feels he is in the fight for the seat, and said that he was hoping his experience would play in his favour.
"It's taking longer than I wished for, to be honest,” Barrichello told The Flying Lap online show this week.
"I have been thinking positively...you've got to believe in things and, if they haven't happened just yet, you have got to believe that they have happened in your mind."
He added that he felt he was in a scrap with two other drivers for the seat, saying: "I am fighting for the position.
"I think there are two other drivers who have potential to be driving at Williams, but I feel like I am quite a good candidate and that I should be driving there."
He went on: "There's lot of changes for the team – the engine, new people around – and I think what I can tell people at Williams is that experience comes gratis, in a way. It's just there.
"Where are you going to find someone with my experience and so much of a will to do well? I still have so much feeling for the car and I want to drive it as fast as I can."
The only other seat still available on the 2012 grid is with backmarkers HRT, though Barrichello is not thought to be interested in that indignity.
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