Austrian GP: Qualifying notes - Marussia

21/06/2014
NEWS STORY

The Marussia F1 Team ended today's qualifying session within a tenth of the Sauber team it is targeting, providing further confirmation that it is closing in on Q2 contention.

Jules Bianchi's best lap was good for 19th position, less than 0.1s from Gutierrez. Jules' team-mate Max Chilton had a more frustrating day and qualified in 21st position.

Jules Bianchi: "I'm pretty happy with where we ended up today. There is still a few tenths between us and the Saubers, but then we did not get the perfect lap either, so there is more to come. On my first run we lost the radio connection, so I was driving a little blind. My lap was not so good, but it still showed some good promise versus Sutil ahead, and with Gutierrez behind at that point. My second run was better and I think it shows that there is still a bit of work to do to get on terms with them. If we can get the most from the car tomorrow, we can certainly have a good fight with them and I hope we can deliver a good result for the Team."

Max Chilton: "I went into qualifying having lost a bit of track time at the end of Free Practice 3, including my last set of prime tyres and also the Supersoft run, so we didn't get the best preparation. On my second run I got traffic from Ericsson, so I wasn't able to improve, and unfortunately this just allowed Kobayashi to squeeze ahead. I'm confident in the pace of the car though so, given the penalty I will take tomorrow, the first job tomorrow will be getting back on the right side of the Caterham and then targeting the cars in front."

John Booth, Team Principal: "Overall a slightly disappointing session, but for all the right reasons. We have finished the day still close to the Q2 point, but ultimately we just weren't quite quick enough. The session was not without its issues, with Jules having radio failure immediately before leaving the garage for his first run. With the complex management of the ERS systems and the traffic he did a good job flying solo without the benefit of engineering support. His second run was not perfect and I am sure there was something left on the table, but we were still short. Max has had a good weekend overall, but he lost out on track time at the end of FP3 and in his final run today he appeared to lose some time on the straights, which will need to investigate. We were happy with our long run performance on Friday afternoon and although the temperatures will be higher tomorrow, which will I am sure change the tyre behaviour slightly, I am sure we will manage this well and have a good race. Finally, congratulations to Williams for their result in qualifying today. It is always encouraging to see examples of the hard work that goes into improving performance being rewarded."

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Published: 21/06/2014
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