Sunday: Chilton finishes but not Bianchi with Marussia

Max Chilton (#4) – 15th

After a missed start, the Briton was able to avoid the bumps and scrapes of the first laps: « It was a very demanding race, I must say. I didn’t get a fantastic start and I knew there would be some chaos in turn 1, which I at least managed to avoid. »

Subsequently, he managed to keep up with the pace of Marcus Ericsson’s Caterham, without being able to overtake it: We had a battle with Ericsson for a large part of the race and until the end, we were very close and put him under pressure up to the finish line, actually finishing just a tenth behind. We are a bit disappointed today, but we will focus on what we can do in Bahrain next weekend.

Jules Bianchi (No. 17) – Retirement

For the Frenchman, the race was decided from the start after being hit by Jean-Eric Vergne. He then considers himself incapable of avoiding the collision with Pastor Maldonado, for which he was nevertheless penalized on the track and received a two-point penalty on his license: « Unfortunately, the situation with Maldonado was a consequence of what happened at the start when Vergne touched me from behind and punctured my left rear tire. Quite simply, I couldn’t avoid Maldonado; there was nothing I could do. »

After these incidents, the car proved to be more stubborn than expected and problems seemed to plague it, leading to the withdrawal of driver no. 17: « We came in to change the tires and fit a new front wing, but when I went back on the track, the car was not easy to drive and we suspected an issue with the brakes. We couldn’t continue like this and had no choice but to retire. It was disappointing to end my race after 8 laps, and it’s not the reward the team deserves after a week in which we seemed to make good progress. »