Race - Singapore GP report: Marussia Ferrari

The Marussia F1 Team’s Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton ended today’s 2014 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix in 16th and 17th positions after a long and arduous 61 lap race, which posed its fair share of challenges along the way.

Jules Bianchi

“Today was not the easiest of days for us, but at least there were some positives to take away. We were closer to the Lotus of Maldonado and also to the Sauber of Sutil, so at least we are back to a more typical delta to those teams on this type of circuit. It is disappointing that we were unable to get past Ericsson due to brake wear issues. It was quite a demanding race as there were a lot of factors that we had to manage, particularly the brakes. The safety car after Perez’s accident brought the pack back together so any advantage was lost, particularly as we struggled on the prime tyre.”

Max Chilton

“A tough and complicated race, which also had its fair share of bad luck. I had a stall in the pit lane at the start of the reconnaissance lap and had to return to the garage. I got a good start and almost got Ericsson, then lost time to him when, unusually, Rosberg got past and stayed between us for quite a chunk of the first stint. I made my first pit stop and then had to come in again soon after, when we suffered a puncture due to a valve issue on the front right wheel. This upset our strategy as we switched to the prime tyre earlier than expected. The problem was made worse when the Safety Car came out halfway through the race at a point where I was unable to benefit and that left us compromised for the final stint on the option.”

John Booth, Team Principal

“Today’s race was every inch the tough challenge we anticipated, so first and foremost all credit to the drivers and the team for their tremendous efforts in managing all the aspects of the race. Overall, not the result we wanted. At most points in the race we were much stronger than Caterham, however our performance on the prime tyre under the safety car was by far our most limiting factor, by having to complete a three-stop race versus their two-stops. Both cars suffered problems in the race, Jules with brake wear issues and Max with a puncture that can be traced to a valve issue.”

Claudio Albertini, Head of Customer Teams Power Unit Operations, Scuderia Ferrari

“The start of the weekend was not easy as Max suffered a powertrain issue on Friday. Fortunately, things improved, as we then had no more reliability problems with Max or Jules. During the race, because of the hot and humid conditions, we started to experience a bit of difficulty with the temperature, but then everything went okay and we finished the race without any problems. We know that this specific track, which is similar to Monaco, presents some different challenges to a typical race circuit, so throughout the weekend we had to cope with this, but I think that overall performance was satisfactory."