Despite a complicated day, Bianchi remains confident
Jules Bianchi didn't have the easiest day today in Hungary, but the Frenchman remains confident about his chances for the rest of the weekend behind the wheel of his Marussia.
For the first day of testing at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Jules Bianchi was moderately satisfied as things were complicated to set up and the Marussia is not yet performing well enough.
« It was a little bit difficult this morning because we weren’t too happy with the car’s balance. So we tried to work on that, and then this afternoon, it was a little bit better; we felt an improvement. We can see that there’s still a performance gap compared to the Caterhams, so we need to try to work on that, » confessed the Nice native during a press conference.
Questioned about whether the team had managed to resolve the issues encountered in the intense heat, as in Bahrain, Bianchi was satisfied: « Here, we don’t seem to have [problems with the heat]. We worked well on that. Here, it’s true that we’ve significantly improved in that area, and we tried to simulate race conditions with Max [Chilton], and we didn’t have any apparent issues, so it’s quite positive for the race. »
The objective for the Marussia driver is to beat the Caterham, but for now the MR03 is lagging behind, yet Bianchi remains optimistic: « They [Caterham] have worked, apparently they are faster than us now so it will be more difficult but we will see, the race will be long. We’ll need to have a good qualifying tomorrow already and then anything can happen in the race. »
It was hot today around Budapest, close to 34°C in the air, and nearly 60°C in the cockpit for the driver, and even though it should be hotter tomorrow and Sunday, Jules Bianchi is not worried: « We try to drink a lot already and if we’ve trained well beforehand, it shouldn’t be a problem. »
With the expected high temperatures, the tires should suffer, and even though he hasn’t yet had the chance to study the data with his engineers, he expects strategies with multiple stops: « I think it will be difficult. In principle, it will be a track where there will be quite a few pit stops, 2 or 3 I think. »
From our special correspondent at Hungaroring
