Testing report

Marussia: Successful track debut in Jerez

Max Chilton was the first to get a feel for the MR03.

The Marussia F1 Team enjoyed a positive start to its pre-season testing campaign today, when the brand new MR03 race car made its track debut at the Circuito de Jerez in Spain.

Max Chilton was the first to get a feel for the MR03 and the extent to which a car designed under the dramatic technical regulation changes of 2014 will impact upon driving style and the demands that will be placed on the driver and his engineering team this season.

Max Chilton, Marussia F1 Team MR03 completes first lap

Photo by: XPB Images

Max Chilton, Driver #4: “Today has been a real demonstration of the step forward we’ve made as a Team. After the biggest rule change in F1 history, and for a Team of our size and resources, I think we’ve done an exceptional job. Congratulations to the whole Team and our new Scuderia Ferrari colleagues for a superb reward today.

We got a good clean run on our installation lap and completed four further laps without issue, so I’m really pleased. Five laps today are far more important than you can imagine, as every detail of the data will be pored over tonight and in the weeks ahead of the Bahrain tests to ensure we can continue making good progress.”

Dave Greenwood, Chief Engineer: “After a huge effort by the whole Team, the five laps we have achieved today may seem scant reward. However, as has been seen up and down the pit lane over the past few days, the first day of testing with this very sophisticated level of technology has really been all about ensuring the systems are reliable and also to give the engineering teams initial track data and the necessary time to aid their understanding of the car.

The laps we were able to complete were without issue, so we are pretty pleased with the start we have made to our testing programme. As a Team, together with our new partners at Scuderia Ferrari, we have worked diligently through our planned programme of checks and tonight we will evaluate and digest all of the data collected. Tomorrow is likely to be another challenging day, so we need to be as prepared as possible to make the most of it, but we are very much looking forward to achieving further track time with the MR03.”