Sepang International Circuit, Kuala Lumpur
Sunday 25 March 2012

A rain-soaked and dramatic Formula 1 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix today provided the Marussia F1 Team with further confirmation, if it were required, of the significant strides the team has made with the development of its 2012 race car, the MR01.

The team enjoyed its second double finish in two season-opening races, with Timo Glock crossing the line at Sepang in 17th place and Charles Pic in 20th, and the Caterham of Heikki Kovalainen providing the meat in the Marussia F1 Team sandwich. The legitimate battle that both of the team’s drivers enjoyed with its immediate competitor today underlined that it is back on course and can start pushing ahead in earnest with its development programme.

Timo Glock #24
“A great weekend again for us. We finished with both cars once more, which is a great achievement for the team and we have to be very happy with that. It was a difficult race but I think we made the right tyre choice and changed at the right time, going from the intermediate to the extreme wets and then after the restart changing back from the extreme wets to the intermediates. Coming in straight away was the right thing to do and I just managed to keep the ‘inters’ on for as long as possible and keep them alive. Again, we were one of the first to switch to slicks and we were able to keep pushing to keep ahead of Kovalainen, so really well done to the team. Everyone kept cool and calm when the red flag came out. Proper job by the team and specifically my car crew, who’ve done a great job in the first two races. Now we concentrate on improving again for China.”

Charles Pic #25
“It was a tricky race today in difficult conditions. It was my first time with the extreme wet tyre so it was hard to know the best time to change to the Intermediate at my second pitstop. Then we had a problem with the clutch at the third stop, which is a shame as we lost some time. Overall I am happy with my pace as it was consistent with Timo on the Intermediate and at the end on slicks, which is positive for me. A great job all weekend by everyone in the team as I know it has been very difficult, in many ways. I look forward now to China and even more progress.”

John Booth, Team Principal
“A fantastic end to what has been an important weekend for the team. It is extremely encouraging that we are seeing progress in every area, the most significant of which is in terms of performance. The small upgrade that we brought on Friday was the result of some very hard work in the factory over the last few weeks by the aerodynamics department and we have certainly seen the benefit of that here this weekend. However, we can’t rest on our laurels and this is now the start of what is going to be a very intensive and exciting development programme for us. It was an interesting race today, with plenty of twists and turns to keep us on our toes, which the race team handled admirably. We were particularly impressed with the way Charles held off Kovalainen for so long, losing out only at the pitstop. Equally worthy of note was Timo’s performance in the drying conditions, which was superb. We now look forward to evaluating the findings from these two races so we can come back stronger again in China in three weeks’ time.

Sepang International Circuit, Kuala Lumpur
Saturday 24 March 2012

The Marussia F1 Team enjoyed another positive showing at Sepang today, culminating in the qualifying session for the Malaysia Grand Prix, which underlined a clear progression since last weekend’s season-opener in Melbourne.

In this morning’s final free practice session the team put to work the findings of yesterday’s busy and diverse programme and Charles was able to commence running with the same aero developments that Timo had tested in the first two free practice sessions. He confirmed the positive gains highlighted by Timo.

While Charles made steady progress throughout the day, Timo had a more frustrating time getting his car to work on the Pirelli P-Zero Medium tyre but he pulled enough back in the final qualifying run to demonstrate more of the car’s clear potential.

Timo Glock #24
“It was quite a tough, difficult day for me today. The car was very good this morning on prime tyres and I had a good feeling for it, so I was quite confident for us on our option tyre run – the medium – in FP3 to see how much that would bring us forward. For some reason though I struggled massively with the tyre, just like yesterday, and I completely lost the balance of the car. I went slower on the Medium, compared to anyone else, so that was a bit of a shocker. I managed to do two good laps but didn’t really have the confidence with the tyre. I made two little mistakes and this cost me a tenth or two. The team has done a great job again and another weekend without any technical problems so far, so we will see for the race now.”

Charles Pic #25
“For me it was a good qualifying and another good day generally. I am a little bit closer to Timo than Australia and that is the best target I have for now. I think there is still a couple of tenths to find but overall a positive step. I think it will be a tough race tomorrow; today was just a few laps, whereas tomorrow is 56. The weather is still uncertain also, so I think it will be interesting for everyone. A good job by the team in the conditions.”

John Booth, Team Principal
“It has been another encouraging day for us as we take the positives from what we have seen so far and motivation from the signs of even better things to come. Although the placings in qualifying haven’t changed, the developments that we added to the car yesterday have meant our overall gap to the leaders and our closest competitors ahead has reduced. Touch wood, we haven’t yet experienced a single car-stopping issue and this has enabled us to crack through our programme and make the same steady progression towards the race as we did in Melbourne. Qualifying revealed a real mix bag of strategies as far as the tyres are concerned and the race is likely to throw up just as many surprises. It’s not yet clear as to the starting strategy and tonight we’ll take some time to evaluate all the options for tomorrow.

Sepang International Circuit, Kuala Lumpur
Friday 23 March 2012

The Marussia F1 Team steadily worked their way through a diverse, interesting and ultimately very productive programme in Kuala Lumpur today as the opening day of running for the 2012 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix got underway in typically hot and sticky conditions at the Sepang International Circuit.

The Friday free practice sessions for the first few races will naturally resemble a pre-season testing checklist as the team continues to understand more about its 2012 package. In FP1 this morning the focus was on aerodynamic and set-up evaluations, which saw a lot of to-ing and fro-ing in the garage – particularly for Charles – but this was all part of the programme. The team gathered a great deal of data during the session and the positive findings were put into effect for this afternoon’s FP2, when both drivers continued to make steady progress with the MR01. Reliability prevailed once again, with no issues stopping the car throughout the whole day.

Conditions were difficult for the team on such an action-packed day, as the track temperature soared to 47˚C and the air temperature peaked at 31˚C, but the mechanics coped admirably with the relentless set-up programme.

Timo Glock #24

“Today has been a pretty good day for us I have to say. This is one of the toughest Fridays of the season for the whole team and they did a great job. Our programme meant we had to do a lot of work on the car and the guys were constantly on the ‘go’. We still have some way to go; the car is not perfect yet by any means. We have however made a lot of progress so we need to keep this up for tomorrow. The tyres look quite difficult over a race distance, so that could be a gamble. As for the heat, my fitness work over the winter has paid off for sure. It’s been a good start and good reliability again.”

Charles Pic #25

“It has been a very interesting day for me today. We had a big programme to work through to put the car through the track testing we are catching up with right now, but the results have been very positive and I am happy with the steps we have brought to the car. It’s not easy for the team working in the heat here; it has been a long day for everybody. Now we have a lot of information to take into tomorrow and I will also have the new rear floor parts to try, so I’m looking forward to that. A very good job by everyone and my thanks to them.”

John Booth, Team Principal

“We’ve had another very positive day with the MR01 and this is exactly the start we were looking for from the weekend. We’ve been able to maximise our programme, which means the engineers have plenty of positive homework to do this evening to ensure we keep moving in the right direction. We also evaluated some new rear floor parts this morning with Timo, which he carried through into the afternoon to good effect. Both drivers will now have the benefit of these parts tomorrow. It’s good to see us maintaining the reliability as we can now be confident that the basis of the car is good and turn our minds more towards developing it. It has been a very tough day for the team. The positives of completing a challenging programme with good reliability means the mechanics have been pushed to the max in very trying conditions, but as ever it’s a challenge they have coped with admirably.”