Saturday: The Marussia drivers hope for a dry race

Jules Bianchi – 22nd and 20th [19th on the grid]:

« It has been a frustrating day because I think we seemed strong yesterday in the dry and in anticipation of a dry race tomorrow. Today, it has been a bit complicated because, even though the rain was not very heavy, it was intermittent and the track was quite variable at several times during the day. Like most of the field, we gambled on the track drying enough at the start of Q1 to use the super softs, but it was too slippery and we were lucky to be able to return to the pits to switch to intermediates. I never had a clear lap because there were damp patches on the racing line, so I couldn’t be consistent enough to improve sufficiently. I hope we have a dry race and we can focus on the positive tests we had yesterday. »

Max Chilton – 14th and 21st [20th on the grid]:

« It was a very difficult qualification. It wasn’t easy to read the track well before our first stint, but it quickly became obvious that the super softs we went out on weren’t the right solution. It was like being on an ice rink! Once we switched to intermediates, I felt more confident in attacking and we made good progress, but the track was constantly evolving so everyone was going faster. On my fastest lap, I was blocked, but it’s good that we can at least start ahead of one of the Caterhams tomorrow. I hope this is the last rain here, and we hope for a dry race, as things looked promising yesterday. »