[6] This was also the team's last season using a Renault engine before a new long term deal with Mercedes was activated for 2014.

The FW35 was faced with a difficult debut when the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile declared its exhaust system to be illegal the day the car was launched, forcing the team to revise design.

[7] Despite this setback, Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas declared themselves to be happy with the development of the car after completing its winter testing programme.

[8] However, the scheduled updates that the team introduced for the first race in Australia did not work as planned, with Maldonado declaring the car to be "undriveable", and that the team had set themselves back three years,[9] though he did acknowledge that his struggles with the car may have been down to a combination of the characteristics of the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit and the team's inability to find a proper car setup for the extreme conditions experienced over the race weekend.

The team was eliminated in Q1 mostly along with Marussia and Caterham, and failed to score a point until Hungary, when Maldonado finished 10th.