Marussia team principal John Booth hailed the team’s start to the season after the first day of practice in Australia.
After a trouble-free first day of practice Jules Bianchi was half a second quicker than the team’s closest rivals Caterham and 0.3s off the next car, Valtteri Bottas’s Williams.
“We’re very pleased with our opening day here in Melbourne,” said Booth, “it really couldn’t have gone any better for us with our new car, two new drivers and some good signs in terms of performance and reliability.”
“We came here with a few concerns about how things were going to play out with the tyres, but we also knew that the less abrasive track surface and high ambient temperatures would mitigate many of the issues we experienced in testing. Degradation will remain a challenge though and we can expect to see some interesting racing as a consequence of that, which is of course a good thing.”
Booth cautioned that the team couldn’t take its improved pace for granted just yet: “We’re feeling positive but at this stage we’re not treating this as anything other than a good first day and we won’t have a true picture until we’ve completed our first qualifying and then have a race distance under our belts.
“What I will say though is that the Team have got us off to a good start here and the drivers have done a very solid job, so there’s a nice feeling as we head into our first Grand Prix of the new season. We’ve done all our homework today and put the drivers in a good situation to make the most of their first Grand Prix weekend, so we will see what tomorrow brings now.”
2013 Australian Grand Prix
Image © Marussia
JamieFranklinF1 (@jamiefranklinf1)
15th March 2013, 14:18
It would be great to see the likes of Bianchi take the Marussia out of Q1, if there is a rain hit qualifying session! I can’t remember what it was at the end exactly, but if you take Bottas out, then Bianchi was only about 7 tenths behind the next car, which isn’t too bad, considering where they were last year.
RagingInferno (@raginginferno)
15th March 2013, 16:56
It’s going to be harder for the bottom teams to get out of Q1 this this year though, what with two established runners also falling out due to their being 22 cars. I won’t rule it out though, if development goes well and some luck goes their way it’s always a possibility.
plutoniumhunter (@plutoniumhunter)
15th March 2013, 14:21
For some reason, I envisage the back 4 smashing each other up on a regular basis…
petebaldwin (@)
15th March 2013, 14:27
Be interesting to see how close to the other cars they can get this year – they’ve been clawing their way closer to the other cars but obviously, the closer they get, the more difficult it will be to catch up that last second.
My driver for the year is Hamilton but my team is Marussia – I’d love to see them score a point. They have managed to push ahead of Caterham despite losing out on 10th place and the extra money that brings. With the extra funding, they could push on even further IMO.
Osvaldas31 (@osvaldas31)
15th March 2013, 14:52
It would be surprise, but maybe Marussia and Caterham cought midfield teams. They weren’t far behind Williams and Toro Rosso (especially Marussia). I’d really love Marussia and Caterham get involved in battle for points, at least on occasions.
ZF1 (@zf1)
15th March 2013, 15:00
Bianchi seemed solid! Hope he shows his potential to get a better drive next year!
Antonin F (@antoninf)
15th March 2013, 15:16
They’re closer to the cars in front but still not close enough. But I believe Bianchi could make an hit along the season. Catheram will struggle with a poor line of drivers. Anyhow will be their best season of all time, which is not something difficult to achieve. Probably they’ll get bored during the races as they don’t have to leapfrog HRT any longer.
Antonio Nartea (@tony031r)
15th March 2013, 15:53
Well, Bianchi turned out to be a much better choice than Razia would have been, that’s for sure. Marussia made the absolute best of that situation, for what it’s worth. Hats off. At this rate I wouldn’t be surprised if Jules manages to take the battle to Torro Rosso on occasions, this season.
They are right. The performance in Melbourne is nothing but good news for them. For Caterham on the other hand…
Nick Jarvis (@)
15th March 2013, 17:13
What’s the bet the Marussia and Caterham score around 7/8 points this year?
BasCB (@bascb)
15th March 2013, 19:12
you would get great odds on that, I figure. But I would not put a penny on them getting even a single point between them.
Nick Jarvis (@)
15th March 2013, 22:02
They aren’t in their own catagory anymore, their speeds are more than comparable to the Torro Rosso.. I’m tempted to say Marussia will score a point in Melbourne.. potentially..
electrolite (@electrolite)
15th March 2013, 19:28
Are Caterham just throwing all their money into next year or something?
Either way, somehow Marussia has gained a real fan in me over the winter. And that’s even coming from a Glock fan.
Mike the bike Schumacher (@mike-the-bike-schumacher)
15th March 2013, 19:44
I don’t think Marussia understand the concept of F1…….
Luc
15th March 2013, 21:11
Marussia seems to be on it this season!
Great effort guys, love the new livery , even looks better in person, same goes for caterham(the livery that is)
Jono (@me262)
16th March 2013, 0:20
caterham: missing kova much?