Friday: Marussia wants to regain its position
After being beaten by Charles Pic and his Caterham in Bahrain, Jules Bianchi hopes the improvements brought by his team will allow him to get ahead of his direct competitors. His teammate, Max Chilton, could only participate in the second free practice session to prepare, as his seat was taken by Rodolfo Gonzalez in the morning.
Jules Bianchi – 18th and 20th
« It’s good to be back in Barcelona. It feels like I made my testing debut with Marussia here just yesterday, but a lot has happened since then, and I’ve learned a lot. The car seems quite different compared to the last time I drove it here, and the improvements we’ve made are easily noticeable, which is good. The developments we’ve brought here seem to be working well so far. There’s a big difference between the prototype tire and the option tire, which makes it very difficult to get the most out of them. Getting the best out of the new compound will take a little more time, but once again, it seems like we’re on the right track and I hope we’ll be where we want to be this weekend. »
Max Chilton – 21st [Free Practice 2]
A short day for me after giving up my seat to Rodolfo this morning, which required quick learning this afternoon. It’s a shame I couldn’t get the most out of the Medium tires due to traffic, and we still have work to do to try to optimize the new parts of the car, but we have a good base to work from tonight to better prepare for qualifying.
Rodolfo Gonzalez – 21st [Free Practice 1]
« It was good to be back in the car once again, despite the weather and the wet track that prevented me from finding a good rhythm. I had a very specific task to perform with the new development parts, which I managed, and this will provide a lot of data for the engineers to study and compare with those of the race drivers. »
