On 28 November 2012, Maldonado was retained by Williams for the season, where he was partnered by Finnish rookie Valtteri Bottas. At the start of the season Maldonado commented that the new FW35 chassis was a step back towards where the team were in . He failed to make it out of the first qualifying session at the first race, the , and qualified in 17th position, one place behind Bottas. Maldonado spun out in the race after 24 laps and consequently retired. At the following round in Malaysia, Maldonado did make the second qualifying session but was caught out by the rain meaning he failed to set a time and started the race 16th. He was running in 15th place in the closing stages of the race when he retired again – his third in succession in Malaysia – due to a KERS failure. At the 2013 Monaco Grand Prix, Maldonado and Chilton collided – when Maldonado overtook Chilton who stated he had not seen the Williams next to him entering the corner – and this brought out the red flag as the barrier became dislodged in the incident. Maldonado was not hurt in the crash. In the week following the announcement that Maldonado would not remain with the Williams team in , Maldonado accused his team of sabotage at the .