Saturday: The Sakhir track does not suit Marussia
Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton did their best during the qualifying session, but both were outperformed by a Caterham driver. This slight step back in performance is due to the characteristics of the Sakhir circuit, which does not favor the MR02, but both Marussia drivers remain confident for the race.
Jules Bianchi – 19th and 20th [19th on the grid]:
« After a positive start to the season, I think it’s been a bit frustrating for all of us to find ourselves on a circuit that doesn’t really suit our car. It happens – there are ups and downs in the pit lane – but we’ve done a good job of staying focused and doing our best here. The balance issues we encountered yesterday were quite pronounced, and it made the start of the weekend difficult, but I think the direction we’re taking to resolve them is the right one. Overall, we have confidence in our race pace and strategy. We’ll see tomorrow if this race was meant for us or not. »
Max Chilton – 21st and 22nd [21st on the grid]:
I am much more comfortable for the race than today’s times might suggest, to be honest. After a good day yesterday, we had a water pump problem on the KERS this morning and I almost lost half of the third practice session. Even though it wasn’t the best preparation for qualifying, with the running done, I could see that the changes made since yesterday were positive and we made progress in the right direction. Things were going well in qualifying, but unfortunately, I locked my wheels at turn 11 and looking at the data, I easily lost 3 to 4 tenths. So, once again, we need to look beyond the lap times to know where we really are and we must stay focused. We are playing for the long term this weekend in Bahrain, so if I can be alongside Van der Garde at the start, I think we can show the progress made behind the scenes.
