Marussia's Chilton made good progress testing on day 1 in Barcelona

The Marussia F1 Team embarked on its third and final pre-season test with the new MR02 race car with the first day of a four day programme at the Circuit De Catalunya in Barcelona.

Max Chilton was back in the MR02 working through a mainly wet weather oriented programme by virtue of the conditions at the Circuit de Catalunya. Later in the day, when the track had dried, he was able to progress into a dry tyre programme where the first of the components of the new aero package was put through its paces.

Thursday 28 February 2013
Chassis MR02-03
Driver Max Chilton
Laps 78
Fastest Lap 1:29.166
Position: P9 / 11

Max Chilton, Driver #23

“Despite the rain we have been able to make good progress today, as experience of the range of wet weather scenarios is important for me and the Team. While on the one hand it’s a frustration because we need to start work with the new aero package, on the other hand we wouldn’t have wanted to be heading into the races without having done some work with wet set-ups and the range of tyres in variable conditions. When the track was drying later on in the day we were able to gather some data with the new front wing and the first indications are that this looks to be a positive step. I am also pleased to end the day in P9 and ahead of the Caterham again.”

John Booth, Team Principal, Marussia F1 Team

“Max has had another very good day learning about the three types of tyres in wet conditions. We would have liked more dry running to help us assess our aero upgrade, but it looks like we will have to wait till the last two days for the detailed focus that requires. We did achieve minimal running on dry tyres on a damp track, when we tried our new front wing. This was a less than perfect situation in which to evaluate it, however the feedback we did get was in line with expectations. It looks like it will be wet again tomorrow but we will keep looking to take advantage of any dry running opportunities and try to get more elements of the upgrade tested.”

Marussia F1 Team