23/11/2013
NEWS STORY
The Marussia F1 Team faced a difficult challenge in qualifying today as rain continued to fall at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in Sao Paulo. The objective was to start tomorrow's race ahead of the Caterhams but the ‘dry' window was very narrow and both Jules and Max had time for only one lap of their first run before the track condition deteriorated, leaving little chance of improving their times. Jules' time of 1:28.366 put him in 21st place, although it was encouraging to note that he was just 0.04s shy of Van der Garde and had lost 0.6s at the end of the lap due to a mistake, which at least indicates that the Team can enjoy a good race with the Caterhams tomorrow. Max was 22nd at the end of the final day of preparation for tomorrow's all-important season finale.
Jules Bianchi: "A very difficult qualifying today. We had to do everything we could early on as we knew the rain was coming, but in the end the window of opportunity was really only one lap. For everything after that it was too wet to improve. I'd made a big mistake at the end of my one quick lap as well, so it's disappointing as I was so close to Van der Garde. So now we just have to be positive for the race and do everything possible to achieve the right result for the Team."
Max Chilton: "It was pretty tricky out there today and there were a few hairy moments, that's for sure. We left the pits immediately as the rain was heading in and it was literally a one-lap dash. I was happy with my first and last sectors, even though I had a big moment at turn 3. I struggled a little with the balance but it should be fine tomorrow and that's the day that counts."
John Booth, Team Principal: "Once again Interlagos has treated us to a full day of wet running. Both drivers were happier with the car balance this morning and on the used intermediate tyres from yesterday Jules was happier with his pace, Max still needing to find the balance to gain more time. Qualifying was always going to be tricky today and the conditions were changing continuously through the lap. The early laps in the first run were going to be the quickest but neither of our two drivers got a clear shot at this opportunity. We opted to do a second run as we had little to lose. The conditions were such that the Intermediate tyre was fully in its working window, however the standing water was significant and we were unable to improve. A disappointing result today but tomorrow is the result that counts and that is what we are focusing on."
Check out our Qualifying gallery, here.