06/07/2013
NEWS STORY
The Marussia F1 Team's Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton qualified in 20th and 22nd positions at the Nurburgring today, ahead of tomorrow's 60 lap race.
Jules returned to the cockpit this morning for FP3 after completing just 10 laps in total yesterday due to a mild stomach upset. He was feeling much better after a night's rest and well enough to contend with a very busy final practice session, making up for lost running and also sampling the new Pirelli P-Zero Soft tyre for the first time. He did well therefore to pop his MR02 into P19 in the dying seconds of Q1, before being pipped by Charles Pic by just a tenth.
Max felt that he was unable to get the most from the car today but he is confident that there is more to come in the race.
Jules Bianchi: "This morning I was feeling much better than yesterday, but not quite 100%, so I think another night's rest will help again. It was good to get back in the car this morning and start the process of getting up to speed, which I think has gone quite well. It took some time to balance the car to our liking but we're in a good place for tomorrow and I'm looking forward to seeing what we can achieve in terms of race pace. The key will be to get ahead of Charles as soon as possible - and keep it that way."
Max Chilton: "I was obviously hoping for more today as Van Der Garde has been within reach all weekend. I seemed to struggle a little more in qualifying and for some reason we did not get the best from the car, which is encouraging to some extent because it means we can depend on our stronger race pace. We'll have a good look at the data this evening and do everything we can to ensure a good fight with the Caterhams tomorrow."
John Booth, Team Principal: "We were all pleased to see Jules looking fit and well this morning and whilst he is still not 100% he made good progress through FP3 this morning. We started him on a race run in order to give him race experience on the new rear tyres we have this weekend and that did mean he had to contend with a big leap in pace to the low fuel option run at the end of FP3. His Qualifying runs were very measured and he can be very pleased with his result, as can the rest of the team, who have been analysing our performance in Silverstone closely to determine a better set-up for here. This has enabled us to catch back up to not only our direct competitors but also the rest of the field. Max's early pace on the Medium tyre this morning was where we expected, but on the Soft option tyres he hasn't seen the gain expected. I am sure that he will be working hard with his engineers overnight to have the best possible race tomorrow. Overall a pleasing day and we look forward to the race, which does look like it could throw up some interesting strategy and that will be our focus overnight."
Check out our Saturday gallery, here.