22/08/2015
NEWS STORY
The close battle between the Manor Marussia F1 Team's Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi continued today in qualifying for Sunday's 44-lap 2015 Formula 1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix. They ended the day in 19th and 20th positions behind the McLarens of Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso. Following the imposition of grid penalties for the race start, Will and Roberto are expected to line up in 16th and 17th positions respectively.
Will Stevens: "I'm really happy with how things have gone today. The car feels really good and I'm enjoying a good battle with my teammate. It's nice to end qualifying ahead, but I think we can expect a good fight between us tomorrow. It could be a very mixed race tomorrow, weather-wise. Potentially a bit like Silverstone where it was dry for the most part and then the rain came along and changed the landscape. Because of the nature of this track, we'll need to keep our wits about us, but at the same time it could throw up a few opportunities for us."
Roberto Merhi: "I'm pretty pleased with my qualifying lap today. I lost quite a bit of time this morning in FP3 due to a small hydraulics problem, so I was not quite so prepared for qualifying. Will and I were trading time through the lap, me losing out in the first and last sector, but gaining on him in the second. So I'm looking forward to the race and to seeing how we can continue that fight between us. It is usually a race where anything can happen, so I think it will be close between us."
John Booth, Team Principal: "We had a few little niggling problems this morning, and Roberto in particular lost quite a bit of time, but we've had a very solid qualifying and in actual fact can be very pleased with our relative performance today. Will and Roberto are quite close again, so this should be exciting in tomorrow's race, especially as there is a good chance that the weather could be quite mixed."
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