Charles Pic uncertain he’ll qualify for race

French rookie Charles Pic is uncertain he’ll set a time within the 107% rule in Saturday’s qualifying session, which would mean he would not qualify for the Australian Grand Prix. Marussia have suffered a difficult winter, and were only able to complete a shakedown of their new car over the winter period.

Throughout Friday practice, Marussia ran their car in race trim for the first time as Charles Pic and his much more experienced team-mate Timo Glock got to grips with their new car on a drying track.

In FP1, Glock ended up in 21st place, whereas Pic ended the session 22nd, +12.696 seconds off the pace set by Jenson Button. In FP2, on a much wetter track to begin with, Glock had a more successful session as he finished 12th whereas Pic remained 22nd, this time only 5.587 seconds off the pace.

"It was a good day, no big problems on the car and the car is very reliable so that is very positive," explained Charles Pic. "On the negative points, the weather was not very good today and we got some rain so it was difficult to get some laps. But overall I think it was a good day and tomorrow it will be sunny and bright so we will be able to make some more laps before the qualy."

With the rest of the weekend set to be dry, Marussia will be hoping for some more running on Saturday prior to qualifying. Charles Pic will also be hoping to continue his learning experience of the Albert Park circuit.

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