On 24 August this was confirmed by Renault. He qualified seventh for his first race with the team, the , and finished 13th after colliding with Jaime Alguersuari at the first corner, for which Senna received a drive-through penalty. He finished ninth at the , scoring his first Formula One points. In Singapore, the Renault cars struggled with grip on the slow street circuit, with Senna qualifying and finishing 15th, ahead of teammate Petrov. Senna finished 16th in Japan, 13th in Korea, and 12th in the first , after being forced to change tyres late in the race. In Abu Dhabi, Senna again finished 16th after receiving a drive-through penalty for ignoring blue flags, and suffering a KERS failure. In the final race of the season, his home race in Brazil, Senna outqualfied Petrov for the third time, by starting ninth on the grid. On lap 10 of the race, Senna was involved in a collision with Michael Schumacher, for which Senna received a drive-through penalty, and finished the race in 17th place. On 9 December, it was announced that Romain Grosjean would partner Kimi Räikkönen at the team in , leaving Senna without a drive. On 17 January 2012, Senna was confirmed as a Williams driver, where he was partnered by Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado. As his uncle had been racing for Williams at the time of his death, Senna first sought out his family's blessing before joining the team. Senna qualified 14th for the , and retired in the race's closing stages after contact with Felipe Massa; both drivers later agreed that it was a racing incident. He was classified 16th, having completed around 90% of the race distance. On 25 March, Senna scored his first points for Williams at the Malaysian Grand Prix, finishing in sixth place, for which he earned eight points after coming through the field in changeable conditions. Senna's result in Sepang gained more points for the team than Williams had earned throughout the whole of the 2011 season, Senna finished 7th in China and classified 22nd in Bahrain after retiring due to brake issues. Three races later, Maldonado won his first Grand Prix in Spain as Senna retired in a collision with Michael Schumacher. After the race, a fire broke out in the Williams garage. Senna's car was damaged and four crew members were treated for injuries. Senna finished 10th in Monaco, 17th in Canada and in Europe Senna picked up a drive through penalty after a collision with Kamui Kobayashi, the damage from the collision and the penalty dropped Senna to 22nd and last, Senna finished the race in 11th which became 10th after teammate Maldonado was given a 20-second time penalty after a collision with Lewis Hamilton.